To Hogwarts We Go
by Crowlows19
Summary: <html><head></head>The characters from my story The Best Friends find themselves in Hogwarts on yet another insane and dangerous adventure. Three-Parter.</html>
1. Chapter 1

IMPORTANT: This story will have absolutely no affect on my main story, The Best Friends. I just wanted to do something a little crazier than normal. Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Tom bounced on the balls of his feet. He couldn't help that he was excited and all. Wolf had promised that he would be home for that fall and Tom was fully planning on holding him to that. Despite the jokes and general casualness of it all, Tom missed his cranky roommate when the man was away. K-Unit had flown from wherever they'd been to an army base in Scotland before catching a ride on a military transport train to King's Cross Station.<p>

"Tom, honey, calm down," Jack said, a smile breaking onto her face as she eyed the excited teen. Tom instantly stopped bouncing in place but was too excited to take his vacated seat next to Alex on what seemed to be the only bench in the entire place. People were coming and going without regard to anyone else and there was more than a few instances of someone losing control of a luggage cart.

"What are you so excited about?" Alex asked, though all three of them knew he already knew that answer. He was just trying to distract Tom, which was an appreciated effort.

"Once Rey gets here he's gonna take me to that awesome paintball compound," Tom replied. "You know that."

"Hm," was all the ex-spy could say in reply. Jack looked about as distracted as Tom as she eyed the side of a wide arch between platforms nine and ten. In fact, she was downright staring, her eyes narrowed slightly as she concentrated on whatever it was she looking at. Both boys noticed it and looked at the wall themselves but didn't see anything truly spectacular about it.

"What are you looking at?" Alex asked as he nudged Jack with his shoulder.

"Huh?" she grunted distractedly. "Oh! Um, I thought I saw...well, I don't know. Just my eyes playing tricks on me I guess." She smiled at the two teens to let them know everything was okay and they dropped the subject. Then Jack broke into a huge smile and lept up off the bench with a squeal. They turned in time to see her meet Eagle halfway along the platform-both of them were running-and embrace him. The soldier practically picked her up he was hugging her so hard.

"Sometimes I think they're the teenagers," Alex said sarcastically but he looked happy for the pair.

"That's what happens when you fall in love," Tom replied sounding wise and Alex didn't have the heart to call him out on the fact that he was just repeating something Snake had said. Tom liked sounding wise beyond his years; probably because he spent most of his time acting ten years younger than he was.

The two boys saw the rest of K-Unit come into view soon enough. They were going at a much more sedated pace then their exuberant teammate. Tom's excitement flooded back again and he resumed his bouncing. He opened his mouth to shout something-he wasn't ever sure what he was going to say until it was said-but he never got the chance.

"Reducto!"

"Protego!"

**BOOM!**

The ceiling directly above Tom and Alex exploded in a terrible explosion of light and sound. Alex reacted instantly which was probably what saved Tom's life. The blond grabbed his arm and pulled him down and under the metal bench he had been sitting on not a half a second ago. The station lit up with screams as people fled the area thinking the explosion had come from a bomb.

Tom wasn't sure what had caused the ceiling to explode like that but he knew it was no bomb. He had seen a jet of light smash into the metal beams above them; he knew he had even if it was just from the corner of his eye. There was mass panic and Tom could hardly see anything. Alex was crouched over him protectively, instinctively trying to protect Tom's head from falling debris despite them being under the bench.

What Tom could see though reminded him that he was surrounded by very dangerous, very well-trained people. Jack was rushing back towards him and Alex while K-Unit had their guns drawn and aimed at a group of people not far from the bench. The first thing Tom noticed was that about half of them had red hair. The second thing he noticed was that two of them were still moving. Fighting, Tom's mind told him but it wasn't any kind of fighting he had ever seen. They had sticks for weapons and light was coming out of those sticks as they said funny words he didn't recognize.

"Freeze!" Wolf shouted, his lone command drowning out the screams of panicking civilians and the two boys-for they were boys-with their funny words. Tom didn't notice much after that because as he watched Wolf approach the strange group with their strange weapons his adrenaline started to wear off and he could suddenly feel the pain again.

"Ah!" he cried out and grabbed down at his leg. Alex's attention was instantly back to him and he followed Tom's movements with a well trained eye. Those eyes widened in shock when he saw the piece of large glass that had sliced clean through Tom's well muscled calf and embedded itself in muscle and bone. It wasn't bleeding too bad at the moment but the smallest of movements and Tom felt extreme pain.

"Hang on Tom," Alex said quietly just as Jack reached them and she too saw the injury.

"Hang on sweetheart," she said and gently placed her hand on his back, trying to offer some sort of comfort. They wouldn't attempt to move him until they had the all clear. The injury may be extremely painful but it wasn't quite life threatening yet.

"SAS! FREEZE!" Wolf's command came to them even louder this time and Tom opened his eyes-he hadn't realized he'd screwed them shut against the pain-in time to see Wolf pistol whip a blond boy who fell to the ground unconscious. Eagle had his gun pressed into the face of the other fighter's face; the rest of the group was frozen under the glares of Snake and Fox.

"Drop your weapon and put your hands in the air," Eagle commanded and the boy complied.

"Harry!"

"Oh Merlin."

Tom could see people rushing towards the soldiers at this point. Most of them were dressed in very odd clothing and Tom thought that maybe they were coming from some sort of convention. His thoughts didn't go much further than that because of the pain and he had to lower his head to the cool concrete floor in order to keep from crying out. Alex, who still had his arm around him from when he'd been protecting him, squeezed Tom's shoulders in silent support.

"Who are you?" a woman screamed and Tom gathered his strength to watch. Despite the pain he was in this was highly interesting and he didn't want to miss it. She was a squat, somewhat heavyset woman with the same red hair as half of the group he'd noticed before.

"SAS," Snake replied and his gun whirled around to cover the sudden onslaught of people. "Freeze! Do not come any closer!" Some of the group stopped their approach but most of them carried on through.

"Freeze!" Wolf shouted again as he too ignored the petrified teenager in front of him to meet the newcomers. "I will shoot to kill!" That got the group's attention and they all froze. Nobody moved for a moment and it wasn't long before Tom could see policemen storming into the station along with firemen and medics.

"Over here!" Jack shouted to one of the medics, waving her arms over her head to get his attention. He instantly came towards them. Wolf turned his attention to the bench for a moment to make sure no one was too badly hurt but he couldn't see much. Tom couldn't see him at all. There were too many people.

"AHHH!" he screamed suddenly when he felt the medic move his leg. His head dropped back down to the floor and he felt himself slam his fist down on the concrete in frustration and pain. Tom didn't pay much attention to what was happening around him. Soon enough he was passed out.

* * *

><p>Wolf glared at the odd man in front of him. It hadn't taken him long to find out exactly who those people at the train station had been. He was, however, resisting the knowledge wholeheartedly. Wizards. That was what the old, white bearded man in front of him had said as his fellows had stolen Tom out from under the medic and took him to this...place. The man-wizard-had told him it was a hospital. Wolf had his doubts.<p>

"So you see," the man continued, "It was nothing more than an accident really."

Wolf's glare only intensified at that.

"That _accident_," he snarled, "could have killed someone. You are extremely lucky that those two boys are alive because if they had been killed I guarantee you, your little Wizards would also have been killed. In an accident, you understand."

The wizard-Dumbledore he'd said his name was-didn't seem to take too kindly to Wolf's threat. Not that he had expected him too.

"What were those two...wizards...even fighting about?" Wolf had a difficult time saying the word 'wizard'. It went against all of his logic. Not to mention he felt absolutely ridiculous saying such a thing. He felt that he was suddenly repeating every crazy thing Tom had ever said. It wasn't very comforting.

"I believe the fight began after a nasty exchange of words concerning a wizarding matter," the old man replied. Wolf raised his eyebrow and turned away to think for a moment. Down the corridor he could see the blond kid he'd knocked unconscious with his two parents. Both of them were glaring death at him, not that Wolf was about to be intimidated. The two didn't look as if they could win a fight with a little girl much less him. But they did have those stupid little sticks. _Wands._

"When can I see the kid?" he asked, feeling a little dejected and only wanting to get the boy and get out.

"As soon as the Healers are done with him," Dumbledore replied. "But I would like to speak with you once more before you leave St. Mungo's."

"Why?"

"You may be in danger," the old man said and Wolf turned sharply back towards him. "The young boy you, ah, incapacitated is a member of a very influential Magical family. I need to make sure there are no plans for revenge before you leave."

Wolf nodded and walked away, knowing he was being rude but not caring. He felt ill. A small schoolboy spat had nearly been what killed Tom. It was almost impossible to believe that after all they had been through a couple of teenaged wizards was what almost did the trick. He felt like he was in a Disney movie and he didn't appreciate the feeling. He found his way back to the waiting room where a 'Healer' as they called them was trying to get Alex to drink something out of a vial.

"It will help your headache," the young woman was saying. "It's just a basic Headache Reducer."

"It smells like a jockstrap," Alex replied and Wolf nearly smiled. Eagle had to snort back a laugh. Jack was still talking to the wizard cop (Wolf couldn't remember the official title) as were the other two members of K-Unit.

"I promise you, it will help," she said. Alex looked at the small vial in his hand and slowly raised it to his lips. He made a face at what Wolf presumed to be the smell and then quickly took it away and handed it back to her.

"I'll just suffer," he said and sat back down next to Eagle. The soldier had Jack's purse at his feet and he lifted the large metallic bag onto his lap just as Wolf sat down on the other side of Alex.

"She has to have a bottle of Tylenol in here somewhere," he mumbled as he began rummaging through, but the only thing he found was her birth control which Alex was thoroughly disturbed by.

"Oh! Gross!" he shouted when Eagle withdrew the pills from the bag and he caught sight of them. "That's disgusting!"

"What?" Eagle asked, part amused, part embarrassed. "Did you think we weren't-you know-_together_?" Despite the severity of the situation they now found themselves in, Wolf couldn't help but be extremely amused at the two.

"I knew you were," Alex admitted. "But that doesn't mean I want proof!" The two descended into a small debate over what constituted as proof of a sexual relationship and eventually the now completely ignored Healer just walked away looking a little miffed.

"Wolf?" All three looked up to see a pink-haired woman in one of those wizarding police outfits and looking just a smidge uncomfortable. The team had all given their code names and Wolf had even written 'Accomplice' on Tom's paperwork which was done on parchment paper, strangely enough. Jack had simply been introduced as Jack. The soldier stood to identify himself and she smiled at him.

"The Healers are requesting that you and your uninjured companions move to the designated Muggle room," she said.

"What," he growled and she seemed a little thrown at the tone, "is a _Muggle_?"

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I thought someone would have explained that already."

"Clearly not," he said cutting the girl no slack.

"Oh, well, a Muggle is a non-magical person," she replied.

"And where is this designated room?" he asked.

"On the first floor," she said with a bright smile. "I'll take you down there."

"No."

"Excuse me?" she asked, surprised.

"No."

"You cannot stay here," a new voice said and Wolf spotted a man he had yet to meet. This one was very tall and was so dark he almost looked purple. Wolf spotted an earring and was forcibly reminded of Tom talking about getting something like that. He hoped the kid was okay. "The presence of Muggles tends to make some patients nervous."

"I don't care," the soldier said and the new man narrowed his eyes at the challenging tone.

"It is hospital policy," he continued. "I know it is inconvenient."

"Inconvenient?" Wolf interrupted. "This has nothing to do with inconvenience. My kid is being treated on this floor so this is the floor I'm on. Get me?"

"Sir," the woman replied but Wolf had already turned his back to her and sat back down. He nodded to Eagle who took the hint to act like the two Magicals weren't still standing there. Alex too was quick on the uptake and he picked up right where he left off.

"I don't want to ever hear you say the word 'condom' in same sentence as 'Jack' again," he snarled.

"Well it's not like I have a special codeword for such things," Eagle retorted. The two wizards-either unwilling to press the issue or unwilling to resort to physical means-left as the somewhat lewd conversation started back up.

"I don't have a codeword either!" Alex exclaimed, offended. Eagle raised his eyebrow at him and continued digging through Jack's bag only now remembering what he had originally been doing with it in the first place. "That was _his_ code!"

"Uh, huh," Eagle replied indulgently even though he knew it to be the truth. "Ah, ha!" With that exclamation of triumph he withdrew what he thought to be a bottle of Tylenol only to find himself holding Midol. "Oh, no, that's not what I wanted. Will Midol do?"

Wolf couldn't help but laugh at Alex's face which clearly told his might-as-well-be guardian that Midol would most certainly _not_ do.

* * *

><p>When Wolf finally got to see Tom the day had already passed into night and well into early morning. The soldier entered what he considered to be an outdated hospital room and was greeted with silence. He had been expecting beeping noises and grinding gears just like when he was in any sort of hospital. Apparently wizards had no use for such things.<p>

Tom was awake but he looked pretty dazed and he gazed at Wolf in pure confusion. The man wondered briefly if whatever they'd given him had made him so high he had forgotten who Wolf was. It was a rather disturbing thought and he felt like kicking himself for not demanding to know the methods they were using. But he had assumed he was in a normal hospital and he hadn't been disillusioned until it was a little too late.

"Hey buddy," he said as he sat down on the bed next to his ward. "Do you know where you are?"

Tom nodded his head and blinked slowly. He wasn't smiling which concerned Wolf more than anything. He felt like he was back in that night nearly a year ago when he'd picked the kid up at Brookland in the dead of night. The same night he'd discovered more about Tom Harris than he'd ever thought he could.

"Can you talk?" he asked. It had been a simple wound to the leg. He shouldn't be looking as if he was on the brink of death. If they had been in a normal hospital the kid's wound have been cleaned, stitched, wrapped, and he'd already be home with a system full of vicodin watching cartoons and milking it for all it was worth.

"My throat hurts," he said and Wolf noticed how raspy his voice sounded.

"Why?"

"I kept throwing up what they were giving me," Tom told him. Based off of what he'd seen with Alex and that 'potion' thing it wasn't hard to believe. The stuff looked vile and Wolf felt bad for the kid. It explained why he looked so ill; it was because he _had_ been violently ill.

"How's your leg?" Wolf continued.

"They told me it would be all better by tomorrow," Tom said and Wolf felt his eyebrows soar towards his hairline. That quick? "I know, I was surprised too." The kid paused as he seemed to gather his thoughts. Wolf waited patiently until he finally said, "Is magic really real or were they totally bullshitting me?"

Wolf couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Yeah, kiddo," he said. "Magic is really real." Tom smiled a little for the first time since the explosion.

"That would be so cool if it didn't taste so bad." Wolf laughed a little more openly that time feeling some of his worry slip away. Tom would be fine.

* * *

><p>Wolf woke the next morning in the chair next to Tom's bed his feet propped up on the mattress. The first thing he saw was Tom sitting up, looking a little better and picking at a breakfast. There was a Healer bustling about and talking non-stop. The kid looked a little confused about what he was saying and Wolf quickly tuned into what the man was talking about as he uncorked and corked several of those Potions vials.<p>

"We didn't think that you're stomach would be so sensitive to the Potions. We sort of forgot you were a Muggle and most wizards your age don't need the lighter doses so that was our bad I guess. But your stomach should settle by noon, just in time for lunch! I heard that the Minister of Magic was coming today just to meet you and talk to you about what happened at King's Cross. It made quite the news, that incident. I don't think it would have if your guardian and his little friends hadn't hurt the Malfoy boy the way they did but-oh well. What's done is done, right?"

"I'll say," Wolf replied and the man spun around in surprise.

"Oh, I, uh, didn't think you were awake," the Healer said.

"Obviously," Wolf said lowly, his tone conveying that he was not happy with what had just been said. Not that he understood half of it but the man seemed annoying enough for him to be justified in being grumpy towards him. He saw Tom hide a smirk by taking a bite of his eggs. "What did you mean that it was your bad he got so ill?"

"Oh," the man said suddenly looking as if he really wished he hadn't said that. "Well, we forgot that his system would have never have been exposed to Potions before and we gave him the normal doses we would give any wizard in his weight bracket." It was at this point that Wolf saw Harris try to subtly, yet frantically, signal to the man to stop talking.

"Harris," he said sharply and the kid looked at him with wide eyes. "Let the man finish. Eat your breakfast." Tom looked worried for whatever reason and the fact that he was trying to keep Wolf from knowing something made Wolf want to know all the more. He nodded to the Healer to keep going as Tom gingerly took a bite of toast and chewed it slowly.

"Well, anyway, we were lucky the smell of the Potions made him nauseous enough to throw them back up," the man said and Tom looked sick again.

"And what would have happened if he hadn't gotten sick?" Wolf asked expertly hiding his mounting temper and worry. The Healer took his calm tone as a sign that it was safe to continue.

"Well his system probably would have been poisoned and his kidneys likely would have failed," the man said in a tone Wolf considered to not be appropriately apologetic. In fact, he sounded disgustingly chipper.

"Oh," the soldier replied in a light tone that made Tom's eyes widen even more than they already were.

* * *

><p>"-and this is Cub," Dumbledore said as he introduced the young teen to the Minister. The blond boy politely shook hands with the man but he did catch the fact that the frumpy looking politician didn't seem to want to touch him. He figured it was because he was still a little dirty from the day before. He'd done the best he could with a hand towel and the bathroom sink but he wasn't a miracle worker.<p>

"Nice to meet you Minister," Alex said and the man smiled at the effort.

"It is nice to meet all of you as well," he said stiffly and nobody believed him. "Tell me again, why are you using codenames?"

"We're officially on the clock," Eagle said but the man didn't seem to get it.

"Once we identified ourselves as SAS we took all professional responsibility of the situation," Snake explained. "In doing so, we are officially on active duty and we use codenames in the field." The man nodded at that seeming to understand at least a little.

"Ah," he said. "Well I am here to discuss some of the legal ramifications of your actions yesterday. We normally would-" But they never found out what the Minister normally did in this situation. A metal tray suddenly came flying out of one the hospital rooms, slamming into the wall with a loud clang and spilling the food it had once held all over the floor. The group turned just in time to see one of the Healers dart out of the room looking terrified and Wolf's shouts hot on his heels.

"Two-bit charlatan! I've had enough of this witch doctor crap, get me a real doctor! Snake!"

"What happened?" Fox asked as he grabbed the Healer's shoulder to stop him from running away.

"He-he just went crazy!" the man exclaimed.

"Why?" Fox persisted knowing that, while easy to anger, Wolf rarely had a temper tantrum for no good reason.

"I was just explaining some of the procedures we used last night and he just went crazy!"

"SNAKE!"

Said man jumped a little at the sudden force Wolf used in shouting his name. He'd never really heard the man sound so angry before. The medic quickly went down the corridor to the kid's room and no sooner had he crossed the threshold then Wolf was descending on them in the hallway.

"You'd better let him go Fox before I kill him," Wolf growled and his teammate let the poor Healer go. The scared man ran away as fast as he could without completely losing his dignity. He didn't really succeed but the effort was a gallant one.

"Wolf what the hell are you doing?" Eagle asked, confused at the man's sudden harshness.

"Do you know what that _wizard_ just told me?" the darker soldier asked making the word 'wizard' sound like a horrible insult. Eagle just raised his eyebrows in response, clearly not up for a guessing game. "He told me that the witch doctors 'forgot' proper medical procedure and nearly poisoned the poor kid. He looks like crap." The last part was half shouted and Wolf took off down the hallway again, suddenly deciding that he was not done with the man who had just fled from him. Eagle watched him go with surprise before he and Fox followed a half-running Alex into Tom's room. He only barely registered the fact that Dumbledore and the Minister were following.

"-still feel sick," Tom was saying when they got there. Snake was looking into his eyes and feeling for a fever.

"What was Wolf talking about?" Fox asked the boy. "About you being poisoned?"

"Almost," Tom corrected forcefully. "Almost poisoned."

"That doesn't make it that much better," Snake said. "But you look fine."

"I _am_ fine," the boy said his arms crossed. "I _tried_ to get that stupid fake-doctor to shut up but he was determined to die today. Where's Wolf?"

"Killing the fake-doctor," Alex replied but Tom wasn't much interested in the answer. He was busy looking at the two strangers like they were some strange sort of meat.

"Who are you?" he asked them directly, almost rudely.

"I am Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic," the frumpy man said with an imperious tone that Tom instantly took as a challenge. The others saw the glint in his eye but made no move to stop him from doing something crazy. That was Wolf's job and he was currently preoccupied.

"I am Sir Sputnik," the boy replied and Eagle snorted. Only Dumbledore seemed to hear it though.  
>"Captain of the Brookland Guard."<p>

"Oh, what is the Brookland Guard?" the Minister asked clearly having no idea that Tom was yanking his chain. They had all been told that the two worlds were nearly completely cut off from each other and thus they were unlikely to find a witch or wizard who would know about half of what they were talking about. It was why it had taken nearly four hours-longer than it should have-to debrief them. The wizard cops had no idea what a 9 mm Luger was. Eagle had even heard one of the them say firelimb instead of firearm. It would have been funny had he not said it with complete confidence; that just made it sad.

"An elite group of Juju Bees whose sole purpose is to defend the country from the mighty and terrible Grey Man," the kid replied in all seriousness. His tone sounded grave as if the existence of such a thing was a terrible burden. Snake simply shook his head. Eagle was trying his hardest not to laugh as was Fox and Alex.

"Accomplice, quit confusing the wizards," Jack said as she entered the room. Tom had no idea where she had been but based on the steaming cup in her hand he could take a fair shot at guessing. "Hi, I'm Jack."

The woman had yet to meet either of the two men and introductions and pleasantries were quickly exchanged.

"So when do we get to leave?" the American asked still smiling pleasantly.

"Leave?" the Minister asked.

"Yeah, you know," Alex continued. "When can we go home?"

"Oh not until the courts are done with you," Fudge replied and Alex was a little taken aback by the harsh tone.

"Courts?" Fox asked stepping closer which put him right next to Jack.

"Yes, the Wizengamot is investigating the situation," the man said. "They are very concerned over the brutality experienced by the young Mr. Malfoy."

"Who?" Eagle asked, drawing a blank on the name.

"The blond kid that Wolf took down," Fox told him, arms crossed and slipping into full on MI6-mode as Tom called it. "That boy exploded a roof, nearly killed two innocent people, and caused a mass panic in a major transit zone. We were completely within our rights to do what we did."

"It is your right to bludgeon the boy?" Fudge asked. Dumbledore opened his mouth to say something-probably intervene based on the look on his face-but Fox continued before he could speak.

"He wasn't bludgeoned," the soldier said. "He was given fair warning and ample opportunity to comply with the orders he was given. He did not. That is what we call resisting arrest. He was handled appropriately. Besides, a little bump on the head might remind him not to start death matches in the middle of crowded train stations."

"That is your official position on the matter?" Fudge asked.

"It is," Fox replied.

"Then we shall see you in court," the man said and then walked out of the room leaving only Dumbledore behind. Fox rounded on him immediately.

"You told us that you would take care of all this crap," he snarled at the old man who didn't react.

"And I will," the man replied. "But there are politics playing here and it is not as simple as you may think."

"I don't care how simple it may or may not be," Fox continued looking nearly as angry as Wolf. "We aren't apart of...whatever this is. Take care of it or I'll have to drag in our organizations." Alex winced at the threat. That would be long and drawn out. It would also probably end with Blunt staging a coup to get rid of the loathsome little Minister. The ex-spy just knew the two of them wouldn't like each other. Not that Blunt liked anyone but still, it wouldn't end well.

"There is nothing they would be able to do," Dumbledore maintained. "They are not recognized in this world."

"I seriously doubt that will stop them," Fox replied. "They'll probably welcome it in fact. They won't have anything to answer for."

And wasn't that a scary thought.

* * *

><p>Dumbledore had ample evidence that they were in danger. Not that Wolf understood half of it. The old man had rambled on about pensieves and something named Fawk or Faux or Feather duster. He couldn't really understand it all. He may have been trained to take in a great deal of detail at once but this was beyond his training. It was like trying to learn a whole another language with these people. But he was able to understand enough to know that they were on red alert.<p>

He and Dumbledore had gathered all of them into Tom's room. The old man had started to explain the situation but blood feuds and Death Eaters meant nothing to anyone. Wolf cut across him.

"We've managed to find ourselves another enemy," he said authoritatively and all eyes swiveled to him. "They'll use Magic only, they don't understand anything from our...world, and we aren't entirely sure who they are. Until the fervor from the train station debacle dies down we're on red alert. Dumbledore thinks we'll be safest at his school which doubles as a military strong point. It's up in Scotland, it's isolated, and we'll be around Magical allies. Nobody let their guard down. Jack, Accomplice, Cub, you're to stay with one of us at all times. No wandering off. Everybody gather your things. We'll be stopping by our homes for ten minutes each to get what we need. We're going to be escorted by some of Dumbledore's people. We leave in five."

"Yes, sir," they each said, mumbled, or thought. Not even Tom was stupid enough to disobey Wolf's orders during a red alert.

* * *

><p>Wolf could tell the stumpy, half-missing man was impressed by the swiftness with which they moved. His thoroughly creepy, magical eye had been rolling back and forth in his head which made the soldier almost feel ill. The man had overheard him lecturing his people about constant vigilance and he couldn't help but be reminded of the Sergeant up at Brecon Beacons who had once screamed something similar. It gave the man more than a few brownie points in Wolf's book.<p>

Knowing that they would be experiencing some sort of red alert at some point in the future all of them had been prepped for the moment. They were in and out of their respective homes in five minutes tops before they were piling back into an obviously magical car as it did things Wolf had only heard Tom spout out randomly. Wolf left the kid in the car as he went into their flat and into his closet. The boy's leg was nearly completely healed but it was still painful as he had thrown up all the medication they'd given him. A different Healer than the one Wolf had chased, had informed him that Tom would likely feel ghost pains for the next week or two.

Wolf had known the boy had a pretty good pain threshold but he hadn't expected it to be this high. He grabbed the large duffle bag from the floor that had three sets of clothes for each of them, toiletries, first aid kit, their passports, and six hundred pounds in cash and traveler's checks. Knowing they'd be in Scotland and that even in early fall it could get cold, he also grabbed their coats. He then grabbed the key around his neck and unlocked the metal gun case hanging on his wall. He took an extra gun and several boxes of ammunition and cleaning supplies. They all went into a separate canvas bag. Leaving the two bags and the coats in the hall for the moment, he went into the bathroom. He rummaged around in the medicine cabinet and found his half full bottle of vicodin left over from his last shoulder injury a few months ago. He pocketed it. He also pulled a few cans of Tom's favorite off brand energy drink from the fridge and put those in the clothes bag.

He was back in the car in less than five minutes. He put everything in the boot but did pull out one of the drinks and made sure the pills were in his jacket pocket. All four members of K-Unit were still in their army fatigues which had attracted a fair amount of attention at Mungo's. The pink haired lady he'd met before at the hospital turned around to look at all of them in the back. They were surprisingly not cramped though Tom had bunched himself up between Wolf and Jack, relishing the closeness. He'd always been a tactile person, the exact of opposite of Wolf.

"You guys are efficient packers," she said not sure how to politely verbalize her curiosity.

"We all have grab-n-go bags," Wolf told her.

"Grab-n-go bags?" the older man asked.

"What are those?" asked the driver, a red haired man Wolf had nearly shot back at the train station when they had been rushed by a crowd of what he now knew to be Wizards.

"They're emergency bags," Snake told them. "We keep them packed at all times in case we ever to have leave with no warning and no time to pack."

"Ingenious," the old man, Moody if he remembered correctly, replied. He sounded excited to have them there. The only reply he got was the pop of the can as Wolf opened it and passed it to Tom along with a vicodin for his pain.

"I only get one?" the kid asked, hissing through his teeth.

"You only need one," Wolf told him. Tom shrugged and popped the pill into his mouth, washing it down with his disgusting energy drink.

* * *

><p>Hogwarts was in a castle apparently. It surprised Wolf though he knew it shouldn't of. The car pulled right up to the front door and he saw several of what he supposed were teachers and students gathered on the front steps. There were also a whole crowd of students watching them through the second story windows.<p>

He helped Tom from the car. The kid was a little high not being used to vicodin and could barely talk straight much less walk straight. He wasn't in anymore pain though so that was a bonus. Wolf had also discovered that Tom was worse when on medication. No wonder everyone was reluctant to give it to him. Wolf could normally understand at least some of what Tom was saying but now he couldn't understand _anything_.

Dumbledore came down to greet him while the others piled out of the car and began to unload the boot.

"Ah, Wolf," he said as if he was greeting an old friend he hadn't seen in years. Wolf didn't appreciate the tone. He may be right at home but they were in hiding. "I trust there were no problems?"

"None," the soldier replied.

"We passed a herd of purple McJuJu but Wolf didn't see them," Tom told the man and then leaned in towards him as if to tell him a secret. "He's not Magical enough," the kid whispered and then held up a finger to his lips.

"Ignore him," Wolf said while the old man smiled indulgently. "He's on some really strong medication."

"Oh, what did the Healers give him?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

"Nothing," Wolf said. "I gave him something."

"Ah," the man said knowing not to press any further. "Well, I would like to introduce you to a few of my Professors. This is Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, and Charity Burbage. All three have offered their services should you need any help."

Wolf opened his mouth to thank them but Tom interjected again.

"I see Pixie Stix!" he shouted suddenly, alarmed. He eyes were darting back and forth and he looked ready to bolt. Wolf quickly wrapped his arms underneath Tom's armpits and around his chest preparing to hold him back. The last thing they needed was Tom running off and drowning himself in the lake. Wolf would never be able to explain that to his poor mother.

"Cub, what is he talking about?" Wolf groaned, exhausted.

"I don't know," Cub said. "That's no code word I was ever told about."

"Awesome," Wolf grumbled under his breath before addressing the old man. "Can we just get to where we're bunking? The kid really needs some sleep."

"Of course," the man said sympathetically casting a sad look to the half crazed teenager Wolf was holding. The soldier looked down when he heard a snore and saw that Tom had fallen asleep. He rolled his eyes and sighed. This had to be one of the worst days of his life.

* * *

><p>Tom slept solidly through the night. They were given one set of rooms between them which Burbage felt the need to apologize for but Wolf preferred it. He could keep an eye on everyone much easier this way. They only had four beds in their suite and two of those were only twins. Snake and Fox grabbed those; Jack and Eagle got one of the two doubles as did Alex and Tom. Wolf didn't sleep much that night. He dozed a bit on the Victorian couch in their sitting room but that was all.<p>

Around seven the next morning, he heard a tentative knock on the door. Wolf dropped the book he'd found on magical creatures on the coffee table and went to answer it. The book read like one of Tom's comic books and he found himself more than a little out of his depth. He opened the door and found one of those students-the wizarding students.

"Hello," she greeted.

"Hi," he replied blankly wondering what she wanted.

"My name is Hermione Granger, sir," she said and stuck out her hand.

"Wolf," he replied and took her hand in a firm shake. "What do you want?" He knew it would probably seem rude to her but he hadn't been able to sleep and he was more than a little shaken at this new development in his life.

"Headmaster Dumbledore asked me to help you find the Great Hall for breakfast," she told him. "Also, I'm a Muggleborn so I'll be able to answer any questions you may have."

"Oh," he replied. What was a Muggleborn? "What's a Muggle again? They told me but..."

"A Muggle is non-magical person," she replied with a bright smile. "And a Muggleborn is a witch or wizard born to non-magical parents. There's also Half-bloods and Purebloods which-"

"Just come in," he said, cutting her off before she could get going. He didn't care. She looked a little startled and maybe a little putout but she followed him into their sitting room. Wolf then proceeded to bang on doors and spring them open with a shouted command of, "Everybody up! Breakfast in five!"

Tom and Jack were the only ones who had any significant problem with waking up in such a fashion. Jack was fine once she was actually up and moving about but being awoken by what sounded like a very angry army man threw her off. Tom was still sleeping off his potions induced illness and the vicodin Wolf had given him. He also wasn't much of a morning person.

"C'mon Tom, it's time to get up," Wolf said as he shook the kid awake.

"Mm, umph, frogs," was the only answer he got for nearly three minutes. But the kid did eventually get up, his hair going every which way and his eyes bloodshot and bleary. Wolf had definitely seen him look better.

"You alright Tom?" he asked as the kid fumbled with the snap on his jeans.

"Yeah," he replied. "Can I have another pill?"

"No," Wolf laughed not surprised that the boy wanted more. Despite making everyone else miserable with his ramblings Tom had probably felt great. "C'mon, you need to eat." It didn't take long for them to make it down to what Hermione called the Great Hall and into the seats he could tell were squeezed into the teacher's section of the dining hall.

Students stared at them as they took their seats and the teachers didn't seem much inclined to greet them enthusiastically. Although Wolf did end up sitting next to Burbage who was friendly enough. Tom and Alex however, had managed to grab seats next to a squat woman dressed almost entirely in pink. Wolf felt like he was looking at a walking bottle of Pepto Bismol.

"How was your night?" Burbage asked. "Any problems?"

"No," Wolf replied, trying not to be too rude but also trying not to give her an opening to a longer conversation. "There were no problems."

"Oh, good," she replied sounding relieved. "Just let me know if you need anything while you're here."

Wolf thanked her and continued his meal. On the other end of the table Tom and Alex were doing what Tom and Alex did.

"Twenty quid says you won't," Alex said quietly so as not to tip off the scowling Pepto-lady to his left. Tom glanced up from his eggs and toast to follow his friend's gaze down towards one of the tables. He saw a mop of unruly dark hair and glasses. It was one of those dueling kids; the ones that had brought down the ceiling on them. Tom smirked.

"Thirty quid says I will," he countered.

"Deal," the blond agreed hiding his own smirk behind a goblet (awesome!) of a really sweet tasting juice Tom couldn't identify. Alex grimaced at the taste and put the cup back down on the table searching for some water. Tom just sat back and planned. What to do? What to do?

* * *

><p>It didn't take the two boys long to find a way to slip away from Wolf's prying eyes. By mid-day all of them were more or less fed up with each other and had darted off to do something not in the general vicinity of each other. Jack opted to sleep the day away and had been in bed for hours napping on and off. Fox and Eagle had joined Wolf in the living room to look through the magical books they'd managed to find in their rooms, pouring over them for some kind of clue as to what they dealing with. Tom and Alex and managed to coerce Snake into joining them and therefore were not entirely disobeying Wolf's orders.<p>

The three of them went on a walk through the castle early that afternoon to see what they could see and stretch Tom's leg muscles a bit. At least, that was what they'd told Snake they were doing. They were really on the lookout for the two boys that had nearly killed them in the train station. Tom wanted a word and Alex wasn't about to miss it.

However, when they got to a particular corridor they heard the distinct sounds of a Bon Jovi song. Tom's eyebrows crinkled in confusion knowing that this was an odd occurrence even though he had only been in the Magical world for a few days.

"Do you hear Bon Jovi?" he asked his two companions. Alex nodded and so did Snake.

"C'mon," the man said, taking the lead. He stopped at a door a little further down and when the two boys stepped up beside him they saw a class of kids around their age, listening to _Bed of Roses_ on a beat up CD player. Tom was surprised; he'd been told his electronics wouldn't work in Hogwarts. Their presence in the doorway didn't go unnoticed for long and Professor Burbage greeted them enthusiastically as the song came to an end.

"Well, hello!" she squealed and the entire class turned to look at them.

"Uh, we heard Bon Jovi," Tom said by way of greeting. "Thought electronics didn't work in Hogwarts?"

"It's been charmed to function normally," she replied off-handedly. "Come in! Join us! We were just going over some of the musical tastes of today's Muggles."

"Ah," Alex said. "Got any Rolling Stones?" Tom rolled his eyes. One day Alex would have the musical tastes of someone who didn't belong in the seventies.

"Sorry?" she asked, eyebrows crinkling in confusion.

"The Rolling Stones," Snake repeated. "You know, _Sympathy for the Devil, You Can't Always Get What You Want_?" Burbage still didn't seem to understand.

"What about Kanye West?" Tom asked. "His new album was just released."

"I bought that by the way," Alex said knowing Tom would want to download it to his iPod as soon as he could.

"I still don't know who you're talking about," Burbage said sounding sad. "The only music we have is what a past student donated to us." She held up a CD case. Tom crossed the room to take it and began flipping through the music they had. He shook his head.

"Dude," he said. "They have ABBA and Blondie but they don't have Rolling Stones. Oooo, B.O.C!" Tom opened the case of the CD player and exchanged the discs. After pressing play and then the fast forward button the sounds of _Burnin' For You_ began to fill the classroom. The other two non-Magicals soon joined him at the front of the room to flip through the CDs. Three hours and two class periods later, they were still in what they'd discovered was the Muggle Studies classroom debating the cultural contributions of bands like Pink Floyd, Nirvana, U2, and some of the more obscure bands Alex was able to pull out of his butt seemingly at random.

Burbage was utterly fascinated and she seemed content to just let her classes observe them talking. But then Tom and Alex descended into a debate as to what truly constituted a worthy werewolf movie. The only thing they really agreed on was that werewolves were _not_ present in Twilight-a movie Jack had forced them to see. Those were skin walkers at best.

"And vampires do not have glitter infused skin," Tom ranted. Those movies had disturbed him thoroughly and he was glad to have an excuse to rail against them. "I swear, whose going to take an undead disco ball seriously?" Alex snorted at that and Snake could barely hold his own mirth in. Most of their conversation had gone over the heads of everyone who'd passed through the room in the last three hours but they didn't seem to care.

"Absolutely no one," Snake indulged.

"Exactly!" Tom exclaimed, hands going every which way.

_Hem. Hem._

"And I'll tell you another thing," Tom continued not having heard the small, fake cough. Alex and Snake had noticed however, and they glanced at the squat woman standing in the doorway. "Why does no one else think its creepy that two hundred year old men are hanging out in high schools? Can you say pedo?"

_HEM. HEM._

This time Tom's attention was caught by the much more forceful interruption.

"I have a cough drop if you need it," the boy said to the woman and she glared at him. The two of them had met briefly at breakfast and had taken an immediate dislike to each other.

"Professor Umbridge!" Burbage exclaimed, suddenly looking nervous. "Can I help you?"

"I am here to inspect your classes," the woman said.

"Oh," Burbage replied. "Yes, come on in. Welcome." Snake sensed the sudden change in atmosphere that came with this woman and subtly and firmly signaled for the two boys to leave.


	2. Chapter 2

A LOT of information in this chapter. And I promise that everything has a purpose. You'll understand the randomness of the plot once I get the third part out. For now though, let's just enjoy the craziness of Tom.

00000

Tom was wandering the halls of Hogwarts alone that night. He knew he was in direct defiance of Wolf's very clear and _very_ strict orders but he couldn't bring himself to care all that much. He needed the air. He needed the time to himself to think.

Here he was, in a world he shouldn't be in because two hotheads had thrown caution to the wind and decided to duel out their problems in the middle of a crowded train station. He had yet to meet either one of them and he truly didn't have a desire too. He would probably have to though, in order to win that bet against Alex. He could really use the extra quid. Wolf was a great guardian and all but he wasn't very giving when it came to pocket money. In fact, Wolf operated under the belief that if Tom was completely and irreversibly broke, he'd get into less trouble.

It didn't really work and it made Tom call him stingy behind his back.

But that wasn't what Tom wanted to think about on his walk. In all honesty he wasn't quite sure what he wanted to think about but he was sure it wasn't about money or magic or anything in between. Unfortunately, that covered a wide range of subjects and he found himself thinking about the one thing he didn't want to think about.

Just because Magic was real didn't mean that it could-or would-fix any of his problems. Only he could do that and some days he wasn't entirely sure he even wanted to. Tom found his indecisiveness his absolutely worst quality. It kept his grades low, his relationships short and messy, and his future a bleak looking thing not so far off.

It was cute on a seven year old. Now it was frustrating and holding him back.

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. The darkened and empty halls of Hogwarts was _not _ the place to enter into a demon-confronting soul search. Hogwarts wasn't much of a place for anything considering he didn't belong there. Not that he hadn't once pretended to have magic powers or superpowers or whatever you wanted to call it.

He even remembered a time when he and Alex would play superheroes in the park. When those adventures became real for Alex the novelty had somewhat worn off. It was no longer fun and Magic was no longer something he wanted to be around. Especially when it came in the form of Umbridge.

They had been accidentally running into the woman all day and Tom was beginning to suspect that he was being followed. There was that absolute creepy sensation he got every now and then when someone from Alex's past had come back. The hair on the back of his neck would rise and he would get gooseflesh all down his arms and legs. It was a classic sign that he was being watched. He hated the feeling and he hated the creep giving him that feeling.

Tom had that feeling now. It wasn't coming from the portraits or one of the really awesome ghosts he'd seen floating around. It was coming from something else. Something alive and probably something he didn't want to mess with. He continued walking normally and listened hard. Sure enough he could hear the shuffle of extra footsteps and they sounded close. Too close. Like they were directly behind him.

He turned sharply so as not to give his stalker any warning. No one was there. His eyes shifted from side to side trying to take in everything at once. He could see no one in the darkened corridor and he could hear no more footsteps either. He did hear an extra set of breath.

_Someone_ was there. He was absolutely sure of it. Tom had done enough sneaking around in his life to know the signs of an amateur creep. Whoever it was, wasn't that good at being quiet. Their breathing was far too heavy.

"I know you're there," he said quietly. It was loud enough for someone to hear but not loud enough for it to echo off the walls of the stone walls. "Either show yourself or go away. You're acting like a total creep."

He turned back around and continued on his walk. He heard no more extra footsteps and the gooseflesh finally went away. Whoever it was, was gone.

00000

The mirror had been in a room that clearly wasn't used very often. Desks were piled up in one corner and he could see broken bits and pieces of things he couldn't recognize in another. The mirror, aged and tarnished, was sitting in the middle as if it was its own unique category of junk. Tom didn't like the picture it gave him but he couldn't help but look.

All he'd ever wanted, all he'd ever dreamed about was just on the other side of that glass. He didn't reach for it. He barely even looked at it. He only had eyes for one thing-one person-in this entire heart wrenching scenario.

"Many great men have wasted away in front of this mirror," came a voice from by the door. Tom turned to look at him briefly and then turned back. "They call it the Mirror of Erised."

"Mirror of Desire," Tom said. "Very witty, your people."

"We try to be."

"So, what? It shows you a picture perfect life and lets you pine over it until you go completely insane?" he asked, feeling more than a little frustrated with this world and the way it worked.

"More or less," Dumbledore replied. It had taken Tom a minute to remember the old man's name. It was such an odd one it kept slipping his mind.

"Do you enjoy torturing yourselves or is it supposed to do something else?" he asked and spared Dumbledore enough of a glance to see that the old man was pretty surprised about his remark.

"I am unsure as to the true nature of the mirror's existence," the old man confessed. Tom just huffed in slight annoyance. Of course he didn't know. Why should he? It wasn't as if he had made the stupid thing.

"I don't like it," Tom confided, wishing he had had the foresight to bring Alex along. He'd have rather talked to him than to Dumbledore. Dumbledore was nice and all, but he was Magic and Tom didn't much trust it at the moment. It had hurt him, had almost hurt his friends, and that was that. He was hard pressed to give them a second chance.

"That is a wise approach to such an artifact," Dumbledore replied. He stayed just out of reach. He didn't want to catch a glimpse of his deepest longing in the mirror. Tom could tell. He was well versed in the language of avoidance. He'd been nearly fluent for years now; he and Alex both.

"It doesn't even work," Tom told him and again he could tell he'd surprised the old man by the tone of his voice when he responded.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"It doesn't show me what I want most," Tom said. "I don't even know what I want most. How could some piece of glass know more about me than I could?"

"You don't think that the Magic can see something in you that you can't see in yourself?" Dumbledore asked, curious.

"Magic isn't real," Tom snapped looking over his shoulder and straight into Dumbledore's eyes. The old man narrowed his on instinct.

"It is real, child," he responded calmly which just made Tom even angrier.

"Maybe," the boy conceded, "but it doesn't matter. This world and its people could disappear tomorrow and no one would care. No one would even notice. Face it, Muggles rule and the rest just drool."

"You have not been here for very long," Dumbledore said with a slight scold. "I do not expect you to understand the intricacies of Magical culture."

"Whatever," Tom said as he turned back to the mirror and the figure in it. "It still doesn't work. What good is power if you don't do anything with it but toy with people?" He couldn't really tell what he was talking about anymore. It could have been about MI6 and Alex, or it could have been about him, Magic, and the situation they currently found themselves in. It could have been about him and his father and mother. It could have been about him and Wolf. He couldn't tell.

The only thing he knew was that he was angry. Angrier than he had ever been. The pressure had been building for a long time and now, faced with a picture perfect moment in a world that didn't exist, he just wanted to hit something. He just wanted to break something. Just once. The only thing he could reach was the mirror.

His fist went through the glass before he or Dumbledore could figure out what he was doing. It shattered easily and the image of his perfect life shattered like the mirage it was. He felt blood trickle down his opened knuckles and run down his fingers as he let his hand dangle by his side.

The pressure wasn't gone. In fact, it was much worse. Only this time it wasn't coming from inside, it was coming from the mirror. He heard a scream. He didn't know where it came from. The cracks in the mirror spread like a spider web, becoming more fine as they continued on. It wasn't long before they started to break loose and Tom felt the pressure increase even more.

If he had been lucid he would have heard Dumbledore telling him to move. He would have seen the Magic coming out of the mirror in tendrils as ancient spells broke. He would have heard the cracking glass and the splintering wood as the Magic left and aimed itself at the closest empty vessel be it alive or not. Tom was the closest thing with no magic.

The newly freed magic surged forward and slammed into him from the front sending him flying backwards across the room and into the pile of desks. Wood creaked and groaned. He yelled out as his bad knee throbbed horribly and he could feel the magic crawling over his skin like a bug. An unwanted bug that he scratched at but couldn't get off. Then there was the sudden pain as he felt his muscles stiffen and twist. He felt bones cracking and snapping. The pain was unimaginable. He had never been in so much pain.

He screamed.

00000

"Where is he?"

Dumbledore had expected the anger and the worry to come from this Wolf character. The Headmaster had dealt with worried parents before. He had dealt with dangerous and overprotective parents. He had even dealt with confused and upset Muggle parents who could barely understand the explanations he gave them. But he had never had to deal with a nearly violent Muggle who was more than capable of killing them, Magical powers or not.

"WHERE IS HE?"

"He is in the hospital wing at the moment," Dumbledore informed the irate soldier and the friends that were flanking him. All were glaring and all of them had their arms crossed.

"Why is he there?" Wolf growled looking ready to throw something. "What happened?"

"He destroyed an ancient Magical artifact," Dumbledore informed them. "The backlash of energy threw him across the room and caused...some complications."

"What kind of complications?" Wolf asked. "What's wrong with him? What happened?"

"He has been...affected," the old man hedged. He really didn't want to tell them about what had happened. It had been hard enough to witness. In fact, it had been downright sickening listening to the young boy screaming in agony and hearing his bones snap and his muscles rip apart. He had never heard such sounds before. Not even during the various wars he'd participated in.

"I want to see him," Wolf said and it didn't sound like a request. "Now."

"Of course," Dumbledore acquiesced. "Please follow me."

He led them through the corridors and through the students as they headed to breakfast. He spotted Miss Granger going down to breakfast with Ronald and Harry. They seemed happy enough all things considered. When the group reached the hospital wing Dumbledore pushed open the doors and stepped back to allow the soldiers to step through first.

"What the-?" the man known as Snake declared loudly as their eyes caught hold of one Tom Harris. He was jumping up and down on the bed looking as pleased and healthy as could be. Wolf didn't appreciate his lack of injury because, ultimately, there was something very wrong about the picture in front of him.

It was undeniably Tom but it wasn't the Tom Wolf knew and sometimes didn't hate. It was a Tom he had only seen pictures of. A very young, very bouncy version of the teenager he knew was jumping on his bed and thoroughly ignoring the nurse trying to get him to stop.

"Please sweetheart," she said, sounding exasperated. "You'll hurt yourself."

"Harris!" Wolf barked and the roughly five-year-old look alike stopped immediately. He stood on his bed with the usual fake look of contrition on his face. The one Jack thought was adorable and the one that usually made Wolf even more suspicious than he already was.

"What happened to him?" Eagle snarled, only half looking at Dumbledore.

"The backlash of Magic deaged him," Dumbledore said calmly.

"Deaged!" Wolf exclaimed, feeling his temper rise up once more. He'd been pissed when he'd realized that Harris had disobeyed his order and wandered off on his own. Now he was approaching infuriated. It was rare for Wolf to completely lose his control but he was close. "Fix him!"

"I already have Professor Snape working on an aging Potion that will set him right," Dumbledore replied. "It's not a difficult one; we've even had students brew it in the past but it will take time."

"Time?" Fox asked. "How much time?"

"About a week," Dumbledore replied. "Thankfully we had all of the necessary ingredients on hand or there would have been a much longer wait. I am very sorry."

He seemed sincere but Wolf wasn't much up for forgiveness at the moment. However, when he opened his mouth to rant and rave a small weight latched itself onto his left leg with a surprising amount of force. He stumbled trying to regain his balance and looked down to find Tom's now very small body holding onto him as if the boy was some sort of leech.

"Does he remember anything?" Snake asked, concerned at the relative childness coming from the once teenager. Not that there was really much of a difference but it was still concerning.

"Oh, yes," Dumbledore replied, looking fondly at the little boy. "But I have never witnessed a deaging of such drastic proportions. It's possible there may be effects to his personality. He may regress."

"He's fine," Wolf grumbled as he reached down to pry the kid off his leg. "He's just clingy."

"Am not!" Tom exclaimed and they could hear the drastic change in his voice. It was much higher in pitch and Wolf could tell it would probably get on his nerves. The soldier ignored him and started to pick him up with an arm around his waist but Tom twisted and fought him the entire way. Wolf eventually ended up holding him by his ankle, upside down. The kid just hung there looking as if he was having the best time of his life. Wolf didn't doubt for a second that he was.

"There were no other injuries that we could find," Dumbledore continued.

"Why would he be...deaged?" Fox asked, faltering on the last word somewhat. It was just so weird.

"I believe it has something to do with his personality."

"Huh?" Wolf grunted as Tom aimed a small fist to his gut and then attempted to climb up onto his guardian as the man hunched over, using the man's jacket as support.

"The artifact that young Tom destroyed was known as the Mirror of Erised," Dumbledore explained.

"Mirror of Desire," all four soldiers replied at once. The old man gave them a confounded look and Snake felt obliged to explain.

"We did a lot of word jumble books at training. There was nothing else to do and Fox's Dad kept sending them to us."

"Yes, well," Dumbledore coughed, refocusing himself. "The mirror is designed to show you what you want most in this world. Often these dreams are impossible to reach. Orphans have seen their parents, some see lost loves, and others see naive hopes. When Tom broke the mirror I believe that the magic showing him his dreams tried to reach out to him and make it possible."

"He wanted to be deaged?" Eagle asked, confused. "Why would he possibly want that?"

"Tom misses his childhood," Wolf spoke up and everyone looked at him. The kid had managed to wiggle his way halfway over Wolf's shoulder and the soldier was holding onto the waistband of his tiny jeans with one hand to keep him from falling and hitting his head on the stone floor. "He hated it. He told me that there were a million things he'd do over if given the chance."

"Wouldn't that only work if he went back in time?" Snake asked.

"Is that even possible?" Fox asked and they all looked at Dumbledore. The man nodded.

"Short distance time travel has been achieved," he replied.

"How?" Fox asked, his inner geek rearing its head at such a proclamation. "Even if you did manage to generate enough energy to move along the time axis how do you keep that same energy from ripping apart the atoms of the person? How could you possibly contain such a reaction? Even if you could have the technology to generate that much energy you would have to have a serious containment field in order to prevent the possible formation of a black hole."

"Ah," Dumbledore said. "What is an atom?"

"Nevermind," Fox replied, looking thoroughly dejected. The man had been a physics major in university and the fact that wizards had a capability they couldn't understand on even the most fundamental level just made him sad. It wasn't like he could he talk torque and friction with his teammates. Wolf had a communications degree, Eagle had been an English major, and Snake had a degree in environmental sciences. The army had given him all of his medical training so he had never had to go through physics.

"Neh!" Tom chirped from over Wolf's shoulder. "My head hurts!"

"Well what did you expect?" Wolf snapped, jerking his shoulder so that he could flip Tom back over to an upright position and set him on his feet. The man grabbed a hold of the kid's hand as if he might try to run at any second. Although, such a thing wasn't improbable when it came to Tom. "That's what happens when you hang upside down, you little-"

"Wolf!" Snake snapped, eyeing the boy's reddened face and then glaring at his teammate. "You can't talk to a little kid like that!"

"He's a teenager!" Wolf replied but one look at the flop of dark hair and the sparkling blue eyes and he knew he would lose any argument about Tom still being Tom. He simply huffed and looked away, content to ignore the little urchin.

"There is one more thing before you take him back to your rooms," Dumbledore said, regaining their attention.

"What?" Eagle asked guardedly, clearly not wanting to hear anymore news about anything. They'd had to swallow enough in the last thirty-six hours.

"What do you know about Mr. Harris's family tree?" Dumbledore asked.

"What?" Wolf asked, sneering at the asinine question. "Why would you want to know anything about that?"

"Young Mr. Harris reminds me very much of an old student mine," Dumbledore said. "I was just wondering if there might be a relation."

"Look, I've never even met his dad," Wolf told him. "You'll have to ask him." With that he jerked the boy forward to stand in front of him so that Dumbledore could talk to him directly. The Headmaster looked a little surprised at the invitation but knelt down to Tom's eye level anyway.

"Hello again, Mr. Harris," Dumbledore said and it only just occurred to Wolf that Dumbledore knew the boy's name. Not surprising since Wolf had slipped several times in the last few minutes and said it. He resolved to be more careful. They just weren't used to thinking of Tom as part of the team. He was always just a civilian or Cub's annoying little friend. This was really the first dangerous situation they'd been in since Tom had come to live with Wolf. For some reason, it made the stakes feel higher.

"Hi," the boy said softly, as if he was shy. Wolf wasn't fooled. He was certain Tom was acting like a little kid because he looked like a little kid. He was coherent, he knew how old he was. He was just manipulating the situation as best he could. The soldier vowed not to fall for it at any point.

"What do you know about your family tree?" the Headmaster asked and Tom's little face scrunched up in thought.

"Mum put all of her family history into a big book for me," he told them. "She said it was real important that we always knew where we came from just in case anything ever came up in the future."

"Like what?" Eagle asked, curious despite himself. Tom was always such a mystery to them. They never seemed to know that much about him despite thinking they knew him pretty well.

"She didn't say," Tom replied. "She just said to always know."

"Have you ever heard the name of Riddle?" Dumbledore asked. Tom's pause was too long. He was preparing to lie and/or deny something.

"No," the boy said and his voice was much harder than it should have been. Usually such a tone from the teenager would have just thrown Wolf off guard for a moment or two. Tom wasn't naturally cold. But to hear a seemingly young child say a lie in such a cold way gave Wolf gooseflesh. He was glad he was wearing his army jacket. Nobody could prove he'd just been thoroughly creeped out. "Don't ask ever again."

"Why not?" Dumbledore asked, his own tone losing its friendliness. Wolf inched his right hand, the one not holding onto Tom, behind his back and to the gun secured in his waist band. The old wizard looked downright scary. Wolf had known instinctually that the Headmaster was not somebody he should mess with but to see him in his element, in such a serious line of questioning, was worrisome. The rest of K-Unit shifted too, each preparing to draw their weapons. If Dumbledore noticed, he paid it no mind.

"Because the Riddles don't exist," Tom replied. "Everyone knows that."

"Why do you think the Riddles don't exist?" Dumbledore asked. "I know that they do. I personally taught the last child in their line."

"They don't exist," Tom insisted. "They don't exist, Magic isn't real, and I won't tell MI6 on you."

Wolf gaped down at the little boy in his grip. What could Tom possibly have on Dumbledore that MI6 would need to know? Beyond the obvious? Surely they were already aware of the magical world. Blunt was many things, but out of the loop was not one of them. Dumbledore didn't seem to know what the boy was talking about either.

"And what would you tell them?" he asked, standing up to his full height. The creaking in his bones told Wolf that it wasn't an intimidation tactic. The man was just old.

"I'll tell them what _really_ happened on the St. Anthony's bridge," Tom replied and the soldiers saw Dumbledore's eyes widen in complete shock. "Don't think I didn't poke around last night before that whole stupid mirror thing."

"That's enough," Wolf said feeling more uncomfortable than he ever had before. He had seen Tom blackmail people before. He was usually the one on the receiving end of such treatment. But never before had Tom held a secret worth something to anyone who wasn't in high school. Not unless you counted Alex, and he wasn't.

They knew Tom was capable of digging up information he shouldn't have but to play ball with MI6 was something that Alex did, and even then he was reluctant. Tom was a civilian and that was supposed to be a cut and dry type of distinction. Clearly, it no longer was. They had all stepped into something they would be lucky to get out of and Tom may have just handed them their golden ticket home. Wolf wasn't going to let him over play his hand.

"I don't know what he's talking about," Wolf said to Dumbledore as he picked the little boy back up, this time in a normal way. This time Tom didn't fight him. "But this conversation is over."

With that he led his team out of the little school clinic and back to their rooms.

00000

"Tom, you're so small!" Jack exclaimed looking as if she just wanted to scoop him up and never let go. Wolf knew it was because Tom looked cute at that age and she was probably remembering a time when the kid had been cute and innocent and not just pretending to be.

"What happened to him exactly?" Alex asked, looking as worried as he would allow himself to look. Wolf felt bad for the boy. He had been through so much with MI6 and now his best friend had been affected by something they couldn't understand. It didn't matter that a cure would be there soon. The damage was seen and Wolf could see that Alex was itching for a reason, _any_ reason to strike back. They were all waiting for a simple reason at this point.

As Snake explained to both Alex and Jack what they had been told in the hospital wing, Wolf went into one of the back rooms. He sat down on the double bed and laid back so that he was looking at the ceiling, his feet still firmly planted on the floor. The position kept him from falling asleep but let him relax. Something he needed at the moment.

He took the moment to think. Dumbledore would surely come back at them for the tidbit of information he'd been trying to get out of Tom. It was so obvious that Tom had been lying and Dumbledore wasn't about to stalled by the MI6 threat for long. They had just lost an ally in a way. Wolf was sure Dumbledore would keep them safe from their common enemy but the man no longer had a reason to work quickly. They could be stuck for a while. Nobody knew where they were. Their offices were probably thinking that they were AWOL.

It was a bad situation. Hogwarts was in the middle of nowhere and they had no way to leave it. You needed Magic for that and the car that had brought them here was gone. Wolf had watched it leave. They were trapped, prisoners really.

His eyes snapped open as he felt a small weight settle onto the bed next to him. Tom was sitting next to him Indian style and gazing at him as if he had an important question to ask. The last time Tom had such a look he had asked Wolf how to buy condoms. Not something Wolf wanted to think about but he told him anyway. It was better than him having to deal with such a thing as teen pregnancy. The kid was hard enough to deal with, he didn't want a baby added to the mix.

"What?" Wolf asked quietly.

"Did you ever believe in Magic?" Tom asked. "Before all of the stuff at King's Cross?"

"No," Wolf said truthfully. He never had, not even as a kid. He'd never believed in Magic, the Easter bunny, or Father Christmas. He hadn't had a childhood that let him believe in such things. "Did you?"

"Always," Tom replied. "Can I tell you something?"

"Yeah," Wolf said, uncertainty creeping into his tone.

"You can't get angry though," Tom said. "'Cause it's important and I need your help if we're ever gonna get outta here." That had Wolf sitting up and turning so that one leg was tucked up on the bed and he was looking at the kid head on.

"Spit it out Tom," he ordered and then added, "I won't get angry. Promise."

"Just before Fox came to take me to Brecon Beacons, I was alone in a MI6 office on the high ranking floor," Tom said. "I snuck out onto the floor and found a computer that hadn't been shut down properly in one of the cubicles. I looked up Magic in the database and found all that they had about Hogwarts."

"Why would you do that?" Wolf asked, regretting his promise not to get angry. Not only was that a possible treason charge, it was just plain wrong.

"There have been stories passed down through my grandmother to my mother to me," Tom told him. "About my grandmother's cousins. The Riddles. Mum didn't say too much but she told me that they were killed and no one knew how. There were never any marks on the body, no poisons, there was never even a real motive. The town suspected someone but he disappeared soon after.

"A few years later there was a rumor that the son, Tom Riddle, had a son of his own. They said it was bastard son. Mum said that the mother had a horrible reputation in the town. She said that it was her father that took the fall for the murders even though there was never a trial. Apparently, the entire family claimed to have magic powers."

"You broke into an MI6 computer to see if an old family tale had any truth in it?" Wolf asked incredulously. "Those people were probably just nuts."

"They were completely insane," Tom told him happily and Wolf fought down his instinct to stick the kid in the corner for the rest of the day. "But they weren't lying. They were magical. Blunt has hundreds of files on Magical people from the forties on. Apparently there was a really bad war not that long ago. One side wanted to kill every non-Magical person they could. It was genocide Wolf."

The soldier gulped but didn't respond. He just let Tom continue talking.

"The man who led the bad side was named Voldemort. At least, he told everyone that was his name."

"What's his real name?" Wolf asked not sure he wanted to know.

"Tom Riddle Jr."

"Dumbledore recognized you as his family," Wolf said, suddenly feeling infinitely more worried than before.

"I'm his only family," Tom said. "We have the same eyes. We have the same name. The files said that there had been an investigation into V's background. Dumbledore was a part of that investigation. That's why he knew the signs when he saw them. He saw something in me when we were talking about the mirror."

"What did he see?" Wolf asked. He had never heard Tom sound so serious. But he had also never confessed to being the distant cousin to a genocidal wizard they had never heard of.

"My evil side," Tom replied and Wolf couldn't help but laugh. It was so absurd. Tom looked so small and young. They were in the _Magical_ world, a place he would have once sworn up and down couldn't exist. Tom had often seemed half insane and not in the quirky way that people sometimes appreciate. "It's not funny." The kid scowled at him.

"You're not evil Tom," Wolf said. "You're just a little messed up."

"I don't know how to get us out of here," Tom said, sounding small and uncertain. "I tried to keep Dumbledore from finding out. I'm sorry." So the kid was also aware of just how trapped they were. It was even worse with Tom stuck in a little child's body. He was much more vulnerable than before.

"Don't worry about it," Wolf told him. "It isn't your job to get us out of here. I'll figure it out."

"We're in a lot of trouble aren't we?"

"Yeah, kid," Wolf said. "I don't think we've ever been in more trouble."

"Well, at least I'll have something interesting to say in my memoir," Tom said in that squeaky new voice of his. Wolf just rolled his eyes in utter annoyance.

"Shut up."

00000

The next morning dawned bright and far too cheery in Alex's opinion. With Tom as small as he was they were able to squeeze Wolf in the actual bed. It was tight and Alex had Tom's knee in his back for most of the night but he couldn't complain. Wolf had hardly slept the night Tom was deaged and he hadn't slept at all the night before that. The soldier needed to be sharp.

So by sun-up Alex was awake and ready to leave the bed. It was a little too much closeness for him. Tom seemed perfectly content in his sprawled out position. His small body was at an angle and his limbs were going every which way. Part of him was resting on Wolf and part of him was resting on Alex. The blond teenager rolled his eyes and slipped out of the bed. He pulled on his clothes and stepped out into the common area. Eagle was already there, sitting on the couch and pouring over a Wizarding history book. Tom's bombshell news had the entire group reading wizarding literature and racking their brains for a way out of this situation. The last thing any of them wanted was for Tom to be questioned and exposed.

If Voldemort was as bad as all the books claimed he was, then the news that he had non-Magical relatives would be disastrous. Tom would become a target so that the monster could prove that he really did believe in his genocidal philosophy. They needed to leave this world and they needed to leave quickly. It didn't matter that they were in a Magical stronghold. It was still Magical and they weren't trusting any of it

"Hey," Alex said as he flopped down onto the other end of the couch.

"Hey," Eagle replied and slammed the book closed.

"That bad?"

"Yeah, Cub," the soldier replied, sounding short of patience. "It's that bad. I don't think we've ever been in such a screwed up situation before. Our backs are against the wall on this one."

"We've been through worse," Alex argued. "Probably nothing so sneaky but we'll manage. Fox was MI6 and so was I. I think we can outsmart them."

"We have nothing to bargain with," Eagle said. "Except, whatever Tom's sitting on and I doubt that will be enough. He may have broken into Blunt's files but he's not Blunt. We have to get a message out."

"None of our electronics are working," Alex said. "Unless you want to try and use one of those owls I heard about."

"Owls?" the soldier asked, perplexed. Alex nodded a thoughtful look on his face.

"Yeah," he said. "Apparently they use owls to carry their mail. Kind of like carrier pigeons but cooler."

"Hmm," Eagle replied, thoughtfully. "How would we get our hands on an owl?"

"We could always ask that one girl, Hermione," Alex told him. "She seems...eager to help." Eagle snorted and rolled his eyes. Eager wasn't the half of it. The girl practically jumped in excitement trying to help them out the other day. It was actually rather annoying.

"Fine," he finally said. "You work on her today. See if you can find out anything that can help us. Time to put the old spy skills to use, eh Cub?"

The boy just rolled his eyes.

00000

Alex led Eagle through the castle with all the skill of a long time student. The ex-spy's sense of direction was as impeccable as ever, something the soldier was sure wouldn't diminish over time. In fact, he half expected Alex to be working with MI6 again after university. Not that he would even need to bother with university; they would take him back into the fold in a heartbeat if he wanted to take on a mission.

Jack wouldn't be pleased but she probably wouldn't say anything either. It just wasn't in her nature to stand between him and something he wanted. The teen led Eagle down from their rooms to the Great Hall early that morning. They wanted to find Granger before the rest of K-Unit and the others would wake up and possibly interfere.

The Great Hall was mostly empty at this hour. Granger was sitting in what Alex assumed to be her usual seat with a plate of eggs and fruit and a giant book propped up precariously against the milk jug in front of her. Eagle went up to the teacher's table with a nod of good luck that Alex returned.

The teen made his way to the girl's table and quickly took a seat across from her. She glanced up from her book as he sat down and smiled as politely as he could.

"Hello," she greeted with her own smile. "How are you?"

"Okay I guess," he replied. "All things considered."

She cocked her head to the side curiously. "Excuse me?"

"You didn't hear?" he asked and her eyebrows raised.

"Hear what?"

"Tom was deaged."

"Deaged?" she exclaimed quietly clearly surprised. Apparently this type of event, while possible, was rare. Alex nodded. "Wow. I've heard of such things but I've never known someone it had happened to. Is he alright?"

"He's okay," Alex said. "It's just a bit...traumatizing. We didn't even know that Magic was real a week ago and know we're completely sequestered and Tommy's been turned into a four year old. It's just a lot to take in."

"I can't even imagine," she said. "As a Witch I'm more inclined to just take it all in stride. I can't imagine being a Muggle and going through all of that."

"It's not been easy," Alex told her with a small smile. "And I can't even begin to imagine what Tom's mum might be thinking."

"She doesn't know?" Hermione asked.

"No," Alex said. "She probably thinks Wolf's kidnapped him or something. The woman's been through a lot. I wish I could just let her know that her son's okay."

"You could always send her an owl," Hermione suggested. It was exactly what Alex wanted her to say. It was exactly what he needed her to say.

"An Owl?" Alex asked, letting his features take on a confused look.

"Basically you'll post a letter to her," Hermione explained. "If you bring me a letter I think I can get Harry to loan me his owl, Hedwig."

"Really?" he asked, an excited tone to his voice.

"Sure," she smiled clearly glad to have helped.

"That would be great," he told her. "Thanks!"

"It's no problem," she said. Alex stood up and said his goodbyes after that. He didn't want to lay it on too thick and risk raising her suspicion. They couldn't risk word getting back to Dumbledore. When Alex took his seat next to Eagle at the teacher's table the man raised an eyebrow at him in question. Alex nodded.

The first stage of Operation Poptart (as Tom had once named it) was complete. Tom and Alex had once come up with this plan when trying to get another friend out of detention early. A few changes and it would work perfectly with the situation they now found themselves in. Alex took only a moment to contemplate the fact that there were so many moments in his life that he could turn into a plan worthy of MI6. It was no wonder that he had been so successful.

00000

Tom woke up when Wolf more or less threw his limbs off of him. The deaged teen mumbled a bit, smacked his lips, and then sat up. Wolf knew that anyone else would have thought that Tom looked utterly endearing. His right cheek had pillow lines in it, his hair was going every which way, and he was scrubbing at his eyes with his fist. Dumbledore had had the kid's clothes resized for him and Wolf threw the boy some jeans, a shirt, and a hoodie.

"Get dressed," Wolf snapped, pulling his own jeans on and making sure his gun was safely tucked away in his side holster before throwing on a jacket.

"Hey," Snake said as he entered without knocking. "You seen Cub or Eagle?"

"No," Wolf said. "We just woke up. They probably just went to breakfast early."

"Hmm," Snake replied and then left without further conversation. Jack entered through the open door not five seconds later and immediately went to the bed to help the struggling Tom put his shirt on while still half under the covers. When the kid fell back onto the pillows as if to go back to sleep Jack didn't even try to convince him not to. In fact, she simply laid down next to him and slung an arm over the small body as if to join him for a nap.

"Get UP," Wolf snapped. Jack simply waved him off and the soldier sighed but left the two to continue sleeping. As he passed his other teammates he gestured them to follow him.

"What about Jack and Tom?" Fox asked.

"They went back to sleep," Wolf replied. He didn't even have to look to know that the two were rolling their eyes and shrugging as they followed their leader out of the door and down to the Great Hall.

Sure enough, Eagle and Alex were sitting at the teacher's table each downing a plate full of food as if there was no tomorrow. Wolf pulled at the hem of his own zip up hoodie in an uncharacteristic show of nervousness. This would be the first time they would all be in same room as Dumbledore since the disastrous conversation concerning Tom's psychotic relative. He and Wolf each eyed each other cautiously as the rest of K-Unit sat down. However, Wolf wasn't sitting anywhere near Dumbledore and was spared the exercise in self restraint that would have been talking to Dumbledore.

It should have been a very nice meal, all things considered, but Alex seemed determined to make it otherwise.

00000

Alex descended from the staff table again with Eagle. The two of them had a plan and they were eager to put it into motion. With a letter carrier secured, they needed an actual letter. One that would look legitimate to Hermione if she was nosy enough to read it but would tip Blunt off that they were at Hogwarts. It didn't surprise Alex in the slightest that Blunt would have detailed files on the Magical World. Such secrets were sort of his thing and if what he'd gathered about this Voldemort man was true, then any knowledge they could get would probably be what kept their world from being overrun by stick wielding lunatics.

The two of them were halfway out of the Great Hall when a snooty blond boy walked in, flanked by a group of what appeared to be his most faithful lackeys. The sight made Alex roll his eyes but he recognized the boy immediately.

"Nice shootin'," Alex called out and the other boy stopped to sneer at him.

"What are you doing?" Eagle whispered but Alex ignored him as he stepped up to the other kid.

"Excuse me?" the Wizard asked.

"At the train station," Alex told him. "You almost killed me and my friend."

"So?" the Wizard asked clearly not understanding why he should care.

"So you should apologize," another wizard said, taking the words right out of Alex's mouth. He turned to see the other combatant from the station, a small, black haired boy with glasses, and apologetic green eyes. He nodded at Alex.

"I'm sorry about what happened," he said uncomfortably and then stuck out his hand. "Harry Potter."

"Cub."

"Potter," the other wizard snapped as the two shook hands, "you may endeavor to kiss up to filthy Muggles with odd names but I assure you, _I_ do not."

"You should still make good on it," Alex told him. "After all, you never know what karma will bring to the table."

"Are you _threatening_ me?" the blond boy snapped and he looked absolutely incredulous.

"No," Alex replied honestly. "Just warning you." After all, there was no telling what sort of justice Tom might cook up while they were there. He might be little but he was sneaky and, apparently, distantly related to a Dark Lord. Which explained more than Alex was willing to admit out loud. To anyone.

"And what could you possibly have to warn me about?" the other kid asked, still sneering. Alex was getting a little tired of the expression. Mostly because it was just plain ugly. "You're nothing more than a Muggle. A Muggle who has yet to learn his place."

Alex raised a sardonic eyebrow at the comment which expertly hid the rising anger.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Eagle snapped, finally stepping in. "Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" Alex thought it a bit of a stupid question since there was absolutely no _way_ anybody in this world could possibly know who they were. But Eagle was so used to speaking to SAS troops and MI6 desk jockeys that he probably hadn't thought that sentence all the way through.

"It doesn't matter who you are," the boy replied, his grey eyes snapping with righteous indignation. "You're just a-"

"Filthy Muggle," Alex finished. "Yeah, you've said that. Try something new."

"Malfoy, I really don't think you should-"Potter started as he eyed the suspicious bulge under Eagle's shirt. He probably knew what was hidden there given the panicked look in his eye. Unfortunately, his warning was interrupted.

"Shut up, Potter," the now named boy spat. "This has nothing to do with you."

"Actually it does," Alex said. "The two of you almost become murderers a couple of days ago. I want to know why."

"Do you not understand the concept of a hierarchy?" Malfoy spat out. "Here in the Magical World Muggles have their rightful place. You have no right to question those that are better than you."

Alex couldn't help it.

He laughed.

It was just so utterly ridiculous to hear a boy his own age speak to him as if he were some sort of Untouchable. Alex had been all over the world, seen many different cultures, and done more than any other boy his age. And _this_ kid, someone who clearly didn't even go outside all that often if his fair skin was any indicator, _this _kid thought that Alex was the one with no right to speak. Alex had seen ilk like this before. People who thought they were better than everyone else simply because somewhere along the way they'd decided that they had the right to do whatever it was they wanted.

"How dare you laugh at me," Malfoy snarled and Alex saw his wand begin to come up. The laughter died on his lips. He felt Eagle stiffen behind him and out of the corner of his eye he saw Potter reach for his own wand. The group Malfoy had come in with had mostly dispersed but he still had three of his friends with him. If they opened fire in the Great Hall it could be a total disaster. There were too many people. So Alex reacted on gut instinct.

Before Malfoy could bring up his arm and take aim Alex grabbed his wrist and twisted. The blond boy fell to his knees with a cry of pain that immediately attracted the attention of the rest of the Hall. The boy's wand slipped from paralyzed fingers and fell to the floor. Alex kicked it away.

"You think that just because you have some little stick and speak a few words in Latin that you can just walk all over anybody you please?" Alex asked. He was thrown back in time to a few years back when he'd saved Tom from those bullies in the bike shed. He'd asked a similar question then as well. "You're nothing but a bully. A coward that has yet to be put in _his_ place."

"_Stupefy_."

One of Malfoy's friends-a girl with a pug face-had cast the spell.

"_Protego_."

Potter blocked it with another spell and the little light veered off course and hit the wall.

"Cub, stop," Eagle said noting the staff members that were in the process of reaching them. They were still very far away and if he couldn't stall for at least another half minute serious violence could break out. Mostly from Alex. The ex-spy could do some serious damage and if that occurred it was possible that not even Blunt could save them.

"Apologize," Alex snapped at his captive. The boy gasped again in pain and scratched at Alex's hand trying desperately to get loose before the other boy broke his wrist. Eagle knew that hold well. It wouldn't work with someone who was used to getting out of trouble but for someone like Malfoy, who couldn't hold his own in a fist fight, it was all the contact Cub needed.

"Apologize!" Cub shouted and shook the boy's arm causing even more pain. Malfoy squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block it out.

"Unhand him!" Umbridge shouted at the boy as she descended on them in all her pink glory. Eagle was irked to see that Wolf hadn't even gotten out of his seat yet. Fox was right behind Umbridge and Snake was simply standing by his chair clearly wanting a better look. Recognizing that they were out of time Eagle did the only thing he could think of.

He slapped the back of Alex's head. It snapped the boy's attention away from his hostage and back to reality.

"Let him go or you're grounded," Eagle said trying to sound stern and hoping to God it wasn't a complete failure of his parenting skills. Alex looked at him incredulously but let go.

"This isn't over," he told Malfoy as the other boy scrambled to his feet and chased after his wand. "You still owe me a sorry!" The last part he shouted as the blond boy fled through the doors of the Great Hall and back to wherever it was he'd surfaced from. Alex turned back to the room to see the entire school watching him. The teachers were either shocked, angry, or both. Umbridge looked ready to kill him and Dumbledore was quickly descending on them as well. Alex saw Wolf shake his head and knew immediately what the man was thinking.

_Well, bugger. Here we go again_.


	3. Chapter 3

The fallout from Alex's temper tantrum in the Great Hall that morning could have been a lot worse than it was. Dumbledore was still trying to calm Umbridge down while at the same time convince her that he couldn't send the Muggles away. The Minister of Magic himself had come into Dumbledore's office but the Headmaster had outright refused to meet with the wizard kid's parents.

_Malfoy_, Wolf recalled. Eagle was still angry with Alex for losing his cool and causing problems in a situation so riddled with problems that it didn't appear as if _anyone_ had a firm grasp of the situation.

After all, Tom was still deaged, they were still relatively stuck in the Magical world, and now there was a bit of a scandal taking place. Wolf rubbed his temples, hoping to block out everyone and everything. He instead focused on the interesting looking bird in the corner by the door.

Dumbledore had called him a phoenix and Wolf thought he was the most beautiful bird he'd ever seen and Wolf hated birds. He wasn't a big fan of them pooping everywhere.

"Wolf," Dumbledore said, gently taking him from his inner thoughts about pigeons and white crud and shaking him back into reality. The Minister and Umbridge were both looking at him very intently. He thought about what Eagle had told him before he'd been dragged up to Dumbledore's office to sort out the latest incident.

"Keep them occupied for at least two hours," he had whispered. Wolf had not been able to question his teammate before he had to leave. Eagle was up to something and if the look he'd given Cub had been any indication, they were in on it together. He wondered what it was they had cooked up. However, he was willing to play along.

A few hours? He could stall for a few hours.

"Yes?" he questioned trying to make it clear with a single word that he was uninterested in speaking with them about anything and that he was only doing so now out of the kindness of his heart.

"Is there any particular reason that Cub tried to break young Mr. Malfoy's wrist?" the Minister questioned. He sounded as if he was trying to be fair but Wolf didn't fall for it. He had no reason to think that this man would be fair to them in any way. In fact, Wolf was quite certain that he was someone to be avoided at all costs.

Wolf would normally respond that they would have to ask Cub that question directly but Eagle and Cub needed at least another hour to finish whatever it was they were doing. So Wolf had to come up with another answer.

"Mr. Malfoy is a primary reason that Cub's friend was so grievously injured," he said surprised by his own smoothness but trying not show it. "In fact, Malfoy is the main reason that we are stranded in this world to begin with. Perhaps you should question _him_ about the consequences of his actions and leave the rest of us alone."

"You are here because _your_ actions are still under investigation," Fudge replied. Wolf was aware that he was referring to when Wolf had pistol whipped the Malfoy boy in the train station. Fudge didn't trust the Muggle government not to hide them from Wizarding justice and apparently Dumbledore was working his own angle with keeping them in easy reach.

The question of whether or not Tom might be related to a Dark Lord was ludicrous. Wolf didn't think it mattered in the slightest and he was quite determined that Dumbledore would never talk to the kid about it again. Wolf didn't care if it was true or not, this Voldemort person wasn't their problem. At least not until he was marching his army on Downing Street. Then Wolf would gladly pick up his gun and a grenade and go to work. Until then, the spats happening between these Wizards wasn't something he wished to concern himself with.

"Perhaps you should get control over your people," he spat at the Minister of Magic, trying with all his might to get rid of the smug look on his face. Wolf had shot people for less than what Fudge was doing. "If your wizards are going to start shooting Magic at each other in _my_ world, you can expect a lot more dead wizards."

"Are you threatening me?" Fudge asked, incredulous that a Muggle such as Wolf would dare to tell him how to do anything.

"Yes," Wolf said bluntly and Fudge's mouth opened angrily.

"How dare you!" Umbridge screeched. "How dare you threaten the Minister of Magic!"

"I've been up against worse," Wolf replied. "A man in a suit-or whatever it is you're wearing-doesn't frighten me. Nor do I think you should be giving me a lecture about anything. If you don't want violence, don't think you can back violent people into a corner."

If Alex had heard how Wolf was describing him he would have been angry but Cub wasn't there and Wolf didn't much care about his opinion at the moment anyway. Because in the end Cub, Wolf, and the rest of K-Unit were violent people. They knew violence and they used violence. Fudge and his little lackey could only push them so far.

"I think there is a solution outside of violence," Dumbledore said calmly but firmly. "I would suggest that the boys simply stay away from each other. The castle is big enough to make that a feasible solution and meals can be sent to your rooms."

"So you're placing us on house arrest," Wolf remarked and was surprised when Dumbledore owned up to it.

"Unfortunately, yes," he said bluntly. "This world is not conducive to a Muggle presence. I suggest that-for safety-you and your group confine yourselves to your rooms and the immediate area surrounding it."

Wolf noted that Dumbledore was careful not to say for _whose_ safety they would be on lockdown for. He had a feeling that it was mostly for the Malfoy boy who had been so humiliated that it only made common sense that he would try to get revenge. A bad idea indeed because even if he managed to hurt one of them he couldn't hurt all of them. And then Dumbledore would be dealing with people who knew how to kill, had killed before, and likely wouldn't have qualms to do so again.

Of course, Dumbledore was wrong on that count. Wolf had no intention of killing the Malfoy boy and he knew that no one in his own party had any desire to either. Not even Cub. There was just no reason for it and Cub wasn't a killer to begin with. However, Wolf didn't feel the need to correct anyone about the nature of his intentions.

"Fine," Wolf said. "We won't wander around anymore. But you people have to keep the students away from where we're staying. I won't apologize or hold back when it comes to self defense."

"No one will bother you," Dumbledore promised. Umbridge didn't look pleased with this agreement at all. Wolf glanced at his watch. There were still forty-five minutes to go before Eagle's deadline. He wondered how many fights he could pick before he got there. Probably quite a few knowing himself.

"Dumbledore there is still the matter of this 'Cub' boy," Fudge said. Wolf could tell that he wanted to prosecute Alex. He had met types like Fudge before in his career and he was certain the man was hoping to win political points by bringing to justice a Muggle boy attacking whatever a Pureblood was.

"Cub won't do anything," Wolf said knowing that Alex wouldn't be likely to seek out Malfoy to hurt him. All he'd really wanted was an apology and he had gotten one, however forced it had been. He had managed to get revenge. The one they really needed to watch out for was Tom who wasn't going to let anything go anytime soon. Wolf knew him too well to hope for anything else. He wasn't going to tell them that though.

"You can guarantee that?" Fudge asked.

"Regardless of what Wolf guarantees," Umbridge cut in, "Cub is still dangerous and should not be allowed to remain inside the castle walls."

"Cub isn't carrying a weapon from class to class," Wolf replied, reminding them of the danger their wands posed to Muggles. "And he won't leave the rooms. As long as Malfoy doesn't wander in through the door I sincerely doubt he'll find himself with a broken wrist or any other broken bones for that matter."

"That sounds plausible to me," Dumbledore said. "After all, there really isn't anywhere else where you can stay."

This last part was mostly said to Fudge who was eyeing Dumbledore suspiciously. Wolf didn't know what had happened between the two of them but it was clear that they were on opposite sides of whatever issue was playing itself out before them. However, they both seemed to think Hogwarts was the best place to keep them. Probably because Umbridge was capable of keeping an eye on them before Fudge tried to drag them into a criminal trial. He wondered how long it would be before Blunt or the SAS noticed that they were gone and come looking for them.

He knew from Tom that Blunt knew plenty about the Magical World and had probably been made aware of the incident at King's Crossing right after it had happened. He was relying on Blunt being able to recognize the signs of a Magical conflict and connect their disappearance to that very same Magical conflict. He was certain the man could make the connection, he just wasn't sure what Blunt would be able to do about it.

Glancing at his watch again, Wolf was annoyed to see that he was still under the time limit Eagle had asked for. Again he was caught up wondering what was happening and he didn't jolt out of it until a few minutes later when Fudge put his hat on his head in preparation of leaving. Eagle likely didn't care about Fudge's movements. It was Dumbledore and Umbridge that needed to be distracted.

"What should I expect with this investigation of yours?" he asked. Umbridge glared at him for interrupting whatever it was she had been saying. He didn't care.

"It is rare that the Ministry of Magic prosecutes Muggles for crimes against the Magical state," Dumbledore said, making it quite clear with his tone of voice that he thought it was all ridiculous. But then again, Wolf was quite certain that Dumbledore thought Fudge was an idiot. He was inclined to agree.

"The investigation is ongoing," Fudge replied. "We have asked that you stay in the Wizarding world due to your government connections in the Muggle world." Wolf was surprised by that. Dumbledore had said he wanted them in Hogwarts because they might be in danger which he believed was true. He wondered where they would be now if Dumbledore hadn't managed to get them to Hogwarts. Probably some sort of jail. This worried him. What exactly had they done that was so wrong? It had been Malfoy and Potter who had destroyed part of building to the point that rubble had nearly crushed the people below. And _Wolf_ was the one being investigated for knocking the Malfoy boy unconscious in response.

He recalled what Dumbledore had told him about Magical politics in the hospital. They were clearly caught up in a fight that really had nothing to do them personally. They were just the unlikely people to be the easy targets.

"My government contacts are looking for us now," he said and Fudge stiffened. Wolf wondered who it was that Fudge dealt with when he had to deal with Muggles. Someone who clearly didn't care for him.

"They have no authority here," Umbridge told him and she was very obviously happy for that. Wolf snorted in amusement.

"They don't have a lot of authority in a lot of places," he said. "Never seemed to stop them before."

"The Auror office will contact your people in the Muggle World when the time comes," Fudge said. "Until then, you will remain at Hogwarts, in your rooms, and if there are any more incidents I will have all of you removed to some place that is much less comfortable."

"I doubt you have a place I haven't already seen before."

"I doubt you've ever experienced somewhere like Azkaban," Umbridge said and there was distinct note of gloating about her.

"Dolores!" Dumbledore exclaimed, horrified that she had brought up such a place. Umbridge, however, wasn't through with her baiting.

"Azkaban is unlike anything a Muggle could possibly understand."

"What is it?" Wolf asked, hoping to keep her talking for at least another five minutes. That should be more than enough time for Eagle and Alex to finish whatever it was they needed to do.

"The Wizarding Prison," Umbridge told him.

"Stop," Dumbledore ordered but Fudge jumped in.

"He wants to know," the Minister said and then turned to Umbridge. He gave her a nod to keep going and she took to the task with glee.

"Azkaban is where we in the Wizarding World imprison the most dangerous Dark Wizards of our time," she said. "It is guarded by creatures known only as the Dementors. These creatures bleed the happiness and hope from the very air. If you go too close to a Dementor you feel as if you will never be happy again. And if you stay too close you will eventually descend into madness. That is, if the Dementors don't suck out your soul through your mouth. I won't bother explaining what they look like; they are invisible to Muggles."

The room was dead silent as the Magical people left the lone Muggle to contemplate the horror of Azkaban prison. It sounded truly awful and Wolf was now certain that this was where Cub and Wolf likely would have ended up had it not been for Dumbledore. Despite the fact that Wolf didn't want Dumbledore talking to Tom ever again, he felt a huge surge of gratitude towards the Headmaster.

Wolf however was expected to respond to Umbridge. She wanted him to cower at the power of the Magical World. He wasn't willing to do so.

"I had a training officer just like that," he said, smirking at her as she descended into complete fury. And while she spat insults at him and Dumbledore tried to run interference and Fudge managed to slip away quietly, Eagle's deadline came and went.

When Wolf finally managed to get out of the Headmaster's office it was with a distinct sense of accomplishment for going above and beyond what Eagle had asked of him. He had been in there for at _least_ three hours.

He expected accolades.

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He didn't receive any accolades.

He did however receive an armful of faux-five-year-old the second he stepped into the room. Tom had taken a flying leap from the chandelier he'd been swinging from and Wolf was lucky that he had seen him and managed to catch him. Otherwise they both may have been hurt.

"Why the _hell_ are you swinging from chandeliers?" Wolf asked holding Tom at arm length's by his armpits.

"I'm bored," was the squeaky answer. Wolf simply dropped him and then stepped over him, annoyed. Tom jumped up and immediately followed wanting to know what was about to be said.

"Well?" Wolf questioned looking directly at both Eagle and Alex.

"Well what?" Alex asked. Wolf suppressed the urge to draw his gun. Now that he was back with his friends his nerves were allowed to feel frayed and he was quickly losing the cool facade he had managed to keep in front of Umbridge and her anti-Muggle insults.

"Did you do what you needed to do?"

"What were you doing?" Fox asked, curious.

"Alex managed to get a letter to that Hermione girl," Eagle said. "She's sending it out by Owl Post."

"What the hell is Owl Post?" Jack asked, looking up from a magazine she had found somewhere. It was called Witch Weekly and Wolf had no desire to know what was inside.

"It's just how they send mail," Alex explained. "Like carrier pigeons except they use Owls."

"Really?" Jack asked, sardonically. "They have _magic_ and the most efficient system they can come up with is birds?"

"Apparently," Alex shrugged, not particularly caring. "The letter leaves any minute now though."

"Where is it going?" Wolf asked. He rather liked the sound of this plan. Simple, effective. It felt like it could work.

"It's addressed to Tom's mother," Alex said. Tom nodded gleefully, having been let in on this plan at some point. "We figure Blunt is watching her in case Tom tries to make contact."

"Blunt knows about the Magical world," Tom supplied. "He'll know all about Owls and what to look for. It's only a matter of time before he gets a hold of the letter."

"It's coded?" Fox questioned. Eagle nodded.

"Yes," he said. "I had Tom write it himself to make sure it matched the code MI6 collected."

"Whose bird are you using?" Wolf asked.

"Potter's."

"The other dueler?" Jack asked, surprised. "How'd you manage that?"

"I told Hermione I wanted to let Tom's mother know that he was alright," Alex said, picking at a cuticle. "She was very eager to help us. She said she would borrow Harry's bird and send it out immediately. Hopefully, she'll keep her word."

"More than likely," Wolf said. He was thinking about Dumbledore and his rather sneaky plan to keep them in Hogwarts. It happened to be a plan that Wolf thought was to their benefit which was the only reason he wasn't bringing it up now. He'd tell K-Unit about it later but the others didn't need to know about possibly having their souls sucked out through their mouths.

He wondered what the witch girl knew about it all. He doubted it was much, if anything at all. She had been assigned to help them about the castle but now that they were on house arrest it would appear that her job was finished. They had apparently gotten the letter out in the nick of time. Although, now that he thought about it, Eagle had probably known what the result of Alex's fight would have been. Smart man, Eagle.

"What happened with the Headmaster?" Snake asked, cutting into his thoughts and breaking the silence. Tom gave him a sharp look but didn't say anything.

Wolf gave them a brief rundown of what had happened. He didn't tell them about Azkaban. He wasn't going to help Umbridge spread her fear like that. She would have to do that on her own.

"I'm not entirely sure what political game we've landed ourselves in the middle of," he told them. At some point in his recounting of events Tom had managed to climb into his lap, thoroughly intent on milking this deaging thing for all it was worth. Wolf indulged him. "But we need to be careful. This is the type of thing someone in MI6 should be the one to handle. Not us. So everyone keep their heads down and stop threatening to break people's wrist."

"It wasn't a treat," Alex said. "I was going to do it."

"That's not helpful," Jack told him. "It's not polite to break people's body parts Alex."

Alex merely rolled his eyes while the others laughed at her true but rather goofy statement.

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"Tom we shouldn't be doing this," Alex whispered but followed his deaged friend regardless. He had no interest in forcibly moving Tom back to the rooms and there was no talking him out of this either. So Alex followed him to make sure he could get out of whatever situation he was about to get himself into.

"Shh!" Tom hissed. Alex wondered when Tom had gotten so good at maneuvering the castle. HIs friend had finally told him about the information he'd stolen from the MI6 computers but he had never mentioned the existence of a floorplan. Alex immediately went quiet, not wanting to attract attention now. They weren't supposed to be out. Both Wolf and Umbridge would kill them if they were caught.

But they continued to move, Alex's ill ease completely disregarded in the face of Tom's project. Tom was determined to find the Hogwarts library. What he was going to get there Alex didn't know but he was determined nonetheless. Finally, on the third floor they found it.

And they apparently weren't the only ones with this idea either.

Alex could hear whispers coming from one of the huge aisles of books. He pushed Tom behind his legs and took the front leading the two of them cautiously towards the whispers. When he turned the corner he saw Potter, Hermione, and a redhead he didn't know but recognized from the train station.

"Hey," he said, his voice slightly quieter than normal. In the dead silence of the library, however, it sounded like a shout. All for three of them jumped nearly a foot in the air before spinning around to face him. Hermione visibly relaxed when she saw who it was.

"Oh, hello Alex," she greeted pleasantly. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for information about this," he replied, pointing down at Tom who was still standing half behind Alex's legs.

"That's in a different section," Hermione told them. Alex saw the redhead roll his eyes.

"What are you guys doing?" Alex questioned. They had the distinct air of people who were doing something that they shouldn't have been doing but were going to do it anyway. Alex understood that quite easily as he was often doing something that he wasn't supposed to be doing.

"Well," Hermione started.

"Hermione!" the redhead hissed.

"Oh shut it Ron," Hermione snapped. "Who is he going to tell?"

The two of them squared off, glaring at each other with such force that Alex wondered when they were going to start kissing. The look between them was so charged that it was quite obvious that there was something going on there.

"It's just Defence Against the Dark Arts stuff," Potter burst out taking the decision right out of their hands. They both turned to give him a sharp look for doing so. He ignored them completely.

"Doesn't Umbridge teach that class?" Alex asked recalling some of the stuff he'd picked up about the nature of Hogwarts since they'd been there. Hermione snorted.

"Technically, yes," she said. "But she doesn't do a very good job." Alex nodded, not because he understood but because he believed her.

"So this is a super secret study group?" he asked.

"Looks like it," the redhead-Ron-said tightly. "Umbridge refuses to teach us anything useful."

"Learn it on your own then," Alex replied. "No harm in that. Not in the long run."

"That's what I said," Hermione told him. "Do you want me to show you to the right section?"

"Yes, thank you," Alex said and placing a hand on Tom's shoulder guided him back into the main aisle so that Hermione could take them to the right section in the library. As it turned out the girl was much more content to lead them from section to section over the course of an hour and pulled every book that she thought might be relevant.

Tom and Alex grabbed a table and sat down with all of their books prepared to stay until the sun came up if that was what it took. Dumbledore hadn't been very forthcoming when it had come to what had happened to Tom and therefore Hermione had very little to go on when it came to the material she was handing them. Harry, Ron, and Hermione joined them twenty minutes after they sat down with their own books about defensive spells and rituals.

It was probably the strangest study group he had ever been a part of but it was pleasant and helpful. When Alex came across something he didn't really understand one of the three wizards was able to explain it. Even if that question had nothing to do with Tom.

"Malfoy wants you thrown in Azkaban?" Ron asked, thunderstruck. "I guess that makes sense but that's a also new low for them."

"Have Muggles ever been thrown into Azkaban before?" he asked. Tom was asleep, his head resting on a leather bound book. Everyone looked over at Hermione who suddenly looked very uncomfortable. She shifted in her seat, trying to gather her thoughts. Alex simply waited her out.

"It's very rare," she replied. "But there is precedent and the Malfoys will attempt to use that precedent to their advantage."

"What did those other Muggles do?" Ron asked, his voice laced with horror.

"Most them targeted wizards for death," Hermione said. "Court records refer to them as Hunters. The worst I think managed to track down and kill dozens of wizards and witches in the late forties. He was the last to be taken to Azkaban."

"But Wolf and I haven't done anything close to that," Alex said. "How could they possibly hope to build a case against us?"

"Well, Wolf is a soldier isn't he?" Harry asked and Alex nodded knowing it was pointless to lie on that front.

"Maybe they want to use that against him?" Ron pondered.

"Possibly," Alex mumbled thinking about Wolf had told them about his meeting with Dumbledore, Umbridge, and Fudge. There was clearly a bigger game being played and Alex wondered if this was just a pissing match between the Ministry of Magic and someone of power in the Muggle World. Knowing that Blunt was spying on the Magical World led him to think that it was him that Fudge might be fighting with.

"DId you get the letter out Hermione?" Alex asked. She nodded.

"Yes," she said.

"What letter?" Harry asked.

"Alex asked me to send a letter to Tom's mother," Hermione replied. "Although I doubt the letter was meant for her in the first place. I tried to find you, Harry, to borrow Hedwig but after the whole incident with Malfoy I just went straight to the Owlery and used a school Owl."

Alex couldn't decide if her cleverness was creepy or fantastic. Either way, Alex resolved not to underestimate her intelligence again.

"So who's the letter really for?" Ron asked, apparently not surprised in the least that Hermione had been running around, out smarting people all day.

"A contact in the Muggle World," Alex replied vaguely.

"Good," Hermione said, flipping through a pamphlet she'd found tucked inside a book. "I hope you didn't waste your one letter on someone who won't be able to help you get out of here." Harry and Ron both gave him piercing looks but Hermione seemed content to not even bother.

"Of course not," Alex said. "Give me a little credit."

"Umbridge is going to be watching all of you like a hawk," Hermione advised him. "Any attempt to contact anyone will likely mean she'll pull you out of Hogwarts."

"And then you'll really be bloody screwed."

"Thanks, Ron," Alex said sarcastically. Ron gave him a nod of acknowledgement in return. "And thank you Hermione," he continued, this time with sincerity, "for getting that letter out when you did."

"Of course," she said, accepting his thanks and batting it away as if it wasn't necessary in the first place. "Anything to stick it to Umbridge." All three boys smiled affectionately at her and Harry and Ron hid snickers behind their hands.

Alex didn't know Hermione that well but he was almost entirely certain that she was not someone to be messed with. So he dropped the subject, made his excuses, and carried Tom back to their rooms. Everyone else was still asleep and while he hadn't gotten all the information he had set out to find he did believe that he'd at least made some interesting-and extremely reliable-allies.

00000

"And what exactly did you find on your illegal nighttime wandering?"

It shouldn't have surprised Alex that Jack would immediately know that they had wandered off and would call him out on it the second he woke up and walked into the sitting room.

"Just that Hermione Granger is smarter than I originally thought," he replied not caring in the slightest that he had gone against Wolf's orders. Again. "Keep on her good side." Jack didn't blink and didn't change her mind.

"No nighttime walks," she said sternly. Alex nodded and sat down on the couch. Everyone was in the sitting room and despite the fact that it was pushing one in the afternoon Wolf was still drinking coffee. Tom was sandwiched between Wolf's side and the arm of the couch flipping through a book so large that hid his entire torso from view. He looked like a book with legs.

"Did you at least find something useful?" Snake asked, returning to the point at hand.

"Not concerning Tom," Alex said. Tom's toes flexed and relaxed; the only sign that he was listening to this conversation. "But Hermione told me that the last time they threw a Muggle into Azkaban was because he was a Witch Hunter."

"Seriously?" Eagle asked sarcastically. "Those exist?"

"Apparently," Fox replied.

"He killed dozens of people," Alex said. "I seriously doubt that they'll be able to throw Wolf in there because he pistol whipped a teenager. The kid didn't even have a concussion."

"So what's the point?" Jack asked.

"Politics," the entirety of K-Unit responded. Tom heaved his book off of his lap and into Wolf's.

"The Minister of Magic knows that Blunt has been spying on them," he said, his squeaky little voice dead serious. Alex tried not to snort with laughter.

"So this is a pissing match between Fudge and Blunt?" Snake asked.

"Great," Wolf seethed. "I'm dead."

"Hermione got the letter out," Alex said. "There's a good chance that Blunt already has it. Tom, what else did you see in those files?"

"Blunt managed to send someone into the Ministry of Magic," he said, relishing the attention everyone was giving him. It was rare that Tom had the upper hand when it came to spy stuff and this time he was the only source of information they had. "Some disgruntled Muggleborn that wanted to get back at the Ministry over something or other. I guess he managed to break into the Auror's office and found some interesting stuff."

"What about?" Wolf asked, interested. He was worried that he was about to hear more about this Voldemort character and he was certain that Tom had memorized everything he could about him in the short time he'd had access to the computers.

"Voldemort," Tom replied.

"They've been tracking his family line," Alex guessed believing he knew exactly where this was going. "Fudge knows you're distantly related doesn't he?"

"No," Tom replied. "Voldemort destroyed all the records concerning himself here in the Magical world. They wouldn't know where to go in the Muggle World to make the connection. They're flying blind when it comes to him."

"But the Auras or whatever," Snake said, "know that Blunt is spying on them."

"I think MI6 has been spying on them since it was created," Eagle said. "There's no way that _Blunt_ was the first MI6 head to find out about the Magical World. I'm certain intelligence knew about them all along."

"DId you ever hear anything about any of this?" Wolf asked Fox who shook his head.

"I doubt it requires a certain level of clearance though," Fox said, thinking about his time at MI6. "We investigated conspiracy theories all time. Anybody that looked in the system would probably have considered it to be something like that."

"Anybody except Tom," Jack snarked and they all laughed. "So everybody's spying on each other and nobody's happy about it."

"Sounds like it," Eagle said. "Although it would be stupid not to. If Blunt didn't know about Voldemort we would all be in a whole lot of trouble."

"What do you think Blunt's going to do about this guy?" Alex asked. Voldemort seemed to be the shadow that loomed in every corner of this world. What would happen if that shadow spread to their world as well?

"Probably nothing until he comes to our world," Wolf said.

"Well, I guess the only thing to do now is wait for Blunt," Snake said, changing the subject back to their own situation.

"You don't think he'll take this as a reason to go to war do you?" Jack asked. She didn't know Blunt very well but she did know that he wouldn't hesitate to take an opportunity when it arose. He was cold and could read a situation without emotion.

"Maybe," Alex replied. He knew Blunt's ability to take what he wanted, when he wanted better than anyone. "It wouldn't surprise me if he tried to bomb the MInistry of Magic. Or he may just poison Fudge. Or he might stir up resentments and cause a riot. Any of those is a real possibility."

They all sat in general quiet, trying to figure out what Blunt might do when he received Alex's message. There were a million different things that Blunt was liable to do that were all within his capacity to do.

It all made Alex feel a little uneasy and that uneasy feeling didn't let up throughout the day as they piddled around the room, trying to find something to occupy themselves with. There was very little to occupy anyone's time and it didn't take long before Tom had gotten on everyone's nerves and Wolf had dragged him out of the room by his collar.

"You aren't supposed to go out!" Eagle had shouted after him.

"Kiss my ass!" was the only reply they got before the door slammed and Wolf and Tom were gone. Probably for a walk.

00000

"But you said-"

"I know what I said," Wolf said, his hand wrapped around Tom's tiny one as he pulled him along one corridor after another. Wolf wasn't entirely certain where he was going but as his only true aim was 'up' it didn't seem to matter. He found a stairwell that led to a tower and he managed to get Tom all the way up and onto the roof.

He lifted the kid up so he could see over the wall and together, they looked out over the grounds and to the wild Scottish lands beyond. The sun was starting to set and the both of them ignored it for the beautiful sight in front of them.

"You said we weren't supposed to go out," Tom said, determined to get his answers despite everything.

"You were going to drive me crazy, with all that jumping around," Wolf told him. "Besides, you're with me. What could go wrong?"

"Do you really want to tempt fate?" Tom asked. Wolf snorted and set him down on his feet. Together they sat on the roof and looked up at the sky. There were Owls flying overhead and a few clouds here and there. It was currently pink but turning darker and darker by the minute. Wolf looked at Tom whose young face betrayed everything that Wolf thought he knew about him.

"Tom," he said. The kid looked over and Wolf almost froze but in the end managed to force it out. "Why would you want to deage yourself?"

"It was an accident," Tom squeaked.

"I know, but still," he persisted. "What the hell?" Tom laughed at him. It wasn't an entirely new thing, being laughed at by Tom but it still didn't mean that Wolf didn't get annoyed every time it happened.

"That's something I'll have to work out in therapy Wolf," Tom finally said and he decided he was going let it go.

"C'mon," he finally said, an hour later after the sky had almost darkened completely. There was a biting wind in the air that tore at Wolf when he stood up. Tom was so short that the wall pretty much blocked him from the worst of it. Regardless, the kid let out a sigh of relief when they were back in the stairwell.

The relief didn't last for long, however, for when they exited the tower and stepped into the main corridor near their rooms they were met by an absurd amount of pink.

"You were not to leave your rooms," Umbridge seethed. She was flanked by two students one of whom Wolf recognized. The Malfoy boy had a huge smirk on his face, as if he had accomplished something critical.

"Needed some fresh air," Wolf replied quietly. "Nothing wrong with that."

"You agreed not to leave your rooms," Umbridge said and Wolf shook his head as if he was speaking to a particularly dumb child.

"I said I wouldn't leave the immediate area of our rooms," he said and nodded at the direction of their door which was just a few feet away. As if he had heard them speaking, Fox opened the door and leaned casually on the frame, an amused expression on his face.

"Alright, Wolf?" he asked, his arms crossed and a knife blade visible in his hand. He must have brought it in his emergency bag for Wolf recognized it as a military grade weapon. It was Fox's favorite and he could imbed it between someone's shoulder blades from twenty feet. Wolf wondered if Fox planned to use it.

"Of course," he replied, congenially and pulled Tom towards the door. He shoved him across the threshold. "Just having a chat with the warden."

Fox eyed a sour looking Umbridge even after Wolf had taken a seat in the living room, Tom at his side. Umbridge opened her mouth to say something but Fox just shook his head at her and held up his blade. She snapped her mouth shut.

"Are you threatening us?" Malfoy snapped, glaring at Fox with indignation. Apparently, this boy just never learned.

"No," Fox replied. "Men like me don't make threats. We just do it."

"Do what exactly?" Umbridge asked but Fox just smiled at her. He knew entrapment when he heard it. After all, he had worked MI6.

"You know what," he replied, his tone of voice tempting her to rise to the bait. He was mocking her and she knew it. Her eyes narrowed and the grip on her wand tightened. "You're someone who knows what I'm talking about. The little blond mama's boy behind you doesn't know what could happen to him but you do. So I'm sure you can explain to him what I'll do if he steps foot in _this_ corridor ever again."

And then he shut the door on her and left her to warn the Malfoy boy that if he tried to get them in trouble again, he would end up on the bad sad of Muggle perfectly capable of killing him. Umbridge was a high ranking member of Ministry of Magic. She would know exactly what a soldier like him was capable of.

00000

The next morning, Alex woke up to the sound of something that was thoroughly familiar. The rotors of helicopters made it's way through the cracked window of the bedroom and he was up and out of his bed in flash. He darted to the window, flung it open, and stuck half his torso out.

Two Blackhawks were making their way towards Hogwarts, flying low, and steady. Alex recalled that Muggle electronics weren't supposed to work inside the Hogwarts grounds. That was what Burbage had told them in the Muggle Studies room. But clearly, Blunt had found a way around all of that.

"Get UP!" he shouted and everyone in the room sprung to attention. Wolf was clearly having flashbacks to training when being woken in such a fashion was by no means uncommon. It took Alex less than five minutes to pull on jeans and shoes, pull open the door to their rooms and dart out into the corridor, leaving everyone behind.

He was halfway to the Great Hall when Jack caught up with him. She didn't try to stop him but simply fell into step with him and together they went to the front doors of the castle. The Blackhawks were circling the castle trying to find the most ideal place to land and at the same time announcing their presence to the entire school.

A good portion of the student population had been at breakfast and as the helicopters roared over the enchanted ceiling, teachers and students alike came to join them in the doorway. No one was brave enough to step out onto the lawn. Alex felt a hand grip his shoulder and turned to see Eagle and the rest of K-Unit just behind him. Tom was in Jack's arms and they were all watching as the Blackhawks landed on the lawn.

Eagle, Snake, Fox, Wolf, and Cub were the only ones to take the steps down from the Entrance Hall and went to greet the people in the Blackhawks. Even from this distance, he could plainly see that it was Blunt who stepped out of the first Blackhawk, five MI6 agents on his heels. They were dressed in the typical uniform of formless suits, sunglasses, and guns in holsters so easily visible that there was little to no doubt of what they were.

No one left the second Blackhawk and Alex was quite certain it was empty except for the pilots. It was meant to carry them out.

"Cub," Blunt greeted pretty much ignoring everyone else. "I received your message." Alex resisted the urge to spout off a _Well, duh!_ It would seem a little ungrateful after all. So instead he nodded. "Who exactly is this Pink Woman you spoke of?"

"Dolores Umbridge," Alex said curtly. He was very rarely anything but curt with Blunt.

"And Accomplice?" Blunt asked.

"Still deaged sir," Alex told him. Blunt glanced to the doorway, saw the crowd of students and teachers all staring at him, saw Jack and Tom, and nodded once. Then he brushed past them, his suited entourage following close behind.

Alex and K-Unit followed as well.

Dumbledore and Umbridge had both found their way to the doorway and Alex could see Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the front of the crowd. He nodded to them and they nodded or smiled back. Ron even managed to give a little wave.

"Professor Dumbledore," Blunt greeted when he'd made it to the top of the steps.

"Good morning," Dumbledore greeted politely. "I apologize but I do not know your name."

"You're not supposed to," replied Blunt. "That's the whole point."

"I suppose so," Dumbledore said. "Will I be allowed to know your name now?"

"Perhaps," Blunt said, glancing at all the curious students behind their Headmaster. "In a more private setting."

"Of course," Dumbledore said and stepped aside to let Blunt enter the castle. Blunt didn't move but instead dug his hand in his pocket and removed a piece parchment that Alex immediately recognized as the coded letter he had sent out.

"I would also like to speak to one Minister Fudge and the Malfoy family," he said, reading names off the parchment. "And no, that is not a polite request." He folded his hands in front of him and looked at Dumbledore as if daring him not to comply.

"Of course," Dumbledore complied. "I will see what I can do."

00000

An hour later and they were still waiting for Draco Malfoy's parents to appear. Both Malfoy and Harry Potter had been told to come as well and were sitting in a corner not looking at each other. Tom was bouncing around from person to person, talking animatedly. Every few minutes he would pop back over to Dumbledore who would give him another lemon drop. K-Unit was standing in the opposite corner, arms crossed, silent, and in no way amused. Jack and Alex were having a perfectly pleasant conversation about the television shows they had missed while they'd been away.

Blunt was sitting in a chair in front of Dumbledore's desk his legs crossed and one hand tapping a beat on his knee. He looked as if he was in his own office and not the office of a Headmaster at a school of magic. He was ignoring everyone and everything, including the nosy portraits hanging above him.

Alex had no idea where Blunt's people had wandered off to.

Finally, Malfoy's parents were escorted in by Umbridge and Fudge who both looked like they had something sour in their mouths.

"You requested me?" Fudge asked, glaring down at Blunt who couldn't even be bothered to get up.

"And you are?" Blunt asked, looking up at him.

"_I_ am Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge," Fudge sneered. "Who are you?" Blunt eyed him up and down as if trying to decide if he was worth speaking to. It angered Fudge quite thoroughly which was probably why Blunt had done it.

"I would tell you both my name and my title," Blunt said, "but you would not recognize either."

"Regardless," Fudge returned, angry. "I want to know your name."

"Blunt," he said simply and it was lost on no one that this was the only information he was prepared to give.

"Well, Blunt," Fudge continued. "What did you want to discuss?"

"I think the topic of choice is obvious," Blunt said, finally standing and straightening his suit coat. The room immediately became tense as Blunt squared off with the Minister of Magic in Dumbledore's office. K-Unit straightened and became tense; Tom withdrew to Alex and Jack; the Malfoys sneered; Dumbledore stood; Umbridge looked ready to draw her wand; the portraits leaned over for a closer look.

"That man," Fudge seethed, pointing at Wolf. "Attacked a Magical child." He pointed at the Malfoy kid. Blunt didn't bother to follow Fudge's movements but did raise an eyebrow at his lack of control. Alex knew that the only thing that Blunt respected was control. And Fudge seemingly had none.

"That 'child' was an accomplice to an act of destruction at King's Cross Station," Blunt replied coldly. "I have thirteen people still in hospital, thousands worth in damages, and no one to string up for the blame. Did you honestly expect there to be no consequences? You were warned-after what happened with the giants at St. Anthony's bridge-what would happen if _anyone_ was caught using Magic in the Muggle World."

Alex was stunned.

So the Muggle government hadn't just been spying on the Ministry of Magic and on Hogwarts. They had been tracking them. He wondered how many people had disappeared for using Magic on the wrong street corner. And more importantly, what was that thing about the giants?

"Furthermore," Blunt continued, cutting the Minister off from whatever he was about to say. "It is an egregious violation of the Muggle-Wizarding treaty to imprison a Muggle in a Magical institution without first proving murder. There was no murder committed unless that whitewashed child in the corner is a zombie."

Tom snickered at the fact that_ Blunt_ had just used the word zombie. Alex sniggered over the descriptor 'whitewashed'. It was surprisingly accurate for Malfoy.

"You are stupid," Blunt said. Jack and Alex shot a look at each other and he saw K-Unit do the same. There was a lot of hate in that small sentence which Alex found odd seeing as these two men had never actually met.

"How dare you," Umbridge started, her hand bringing her wand up. Wolf's hand brought up his gun and aimed it before she could aim her wand. She must have known what a gun was and what it could do, for she froze when she caught sight of it.

"Thank you, Wolf," Blunt said. "That's quite alright."

Wolf lowered his arm but didn't re-holster his weapon.

"As I was saying," Blunt said, still sounding so infuriatingly calm that even Alex was getting annoyed. "You are stupid. I am well within my right to retaliate."

"Well, now," Dumbledore said, jumping in but the really tall Malfoy father interrupted.

"You have no right to do anything," he drawled. "And what damage could your weapons possibly do in the Magical World? After all, Muggle inventions do not work here."

"Really?" Snake asked, sarcastically. "Because I recall two Blackhawks passing your wards and landing on your lawn without any trouble at all."

Malfoy glared at him for daring to talk to him and Alex rolled his eyes.

"How did you manage that?" he asked Blunt who did deign to look at him. "We were told that Magic would interfere with everything."

"Magical interference is not an insurmountable problem. We managed it in the sixties. Secretly of course."

Dumbledore looked suitably impressed by this but didn't say anything.

"And what exactly would you-a Muggle-hope to retaliate with?" Fudge asked. "We upheld our end of the treaty to the best of our ability. That does not give your people the right to beat people up in the streets." Blunt looked straight at the Malfoy kid.

"He's fine," Harry spat, speaking up for the first time and looking thoroughly disgusted with the lot of them. "He's been fine since they discharged him from Saint Mungo's. The Wizengamot isn't allowed to prosecute Muggles unless in the event of murder. Anyone with access to a library would know that. You definitely should."

Alex was suitably impressed both with Harry's bravery in speaking up and for his knowledge. He and his friends clearly must have done some more research after their own conversation in the library.

"I believe that young gentleman is correct," Blunt said and Alex gave Harry a thumbs up. "It is well known that Muggle intelligence services keeps an eye on what happens in this World. We do so to prevent being blindsided in the event of attack and have done so for hundreds of years. And yet, you-_Fudge_-are the only one to consider it an intrusion."

"It is an intrusion," Umbridge said. "You have no right-"

"I have EVERY right," Blunt shouted with such ferocity that Alex jumped in surprise. Malfoy actually moved to hide behind his mother. "I have every right to protect my people."

"And we have every right to protect ours," Fudge shouted back.

"Not at the expense of the innocent," Dumbledore reminded him gently.

"I have every right to retaliate," Blunt repeated, this time much more calmly. "And I will if you _ever_ violate the treaty again. I will burn this world to the ground without ever setting a Muggle boot on Magical land. And maybe then you will learn to respect the boundaries our ancestors agreed to."

The room fell into a cold silence and Blunt turned to the Malfoy family.

"You are playing with organizations you do not understand and have never heard of," he told them. "Should you continue this game I will be glad to play it with you and you will find yourself sorely unequipped to match us. I will send the Squibs, the Muggleborns, and the werewolves and vampires that turn up at my door with axes to grind and I will continue to send them until the only place you can walk safely is your own grand mansion. And yes, I know where that is as well. Do I make myself clear?"

The lack of answer was the only answer he was going to get but it was enough.

Even Alex was chilled to the bone and he had Blunt on _his_ side.

"How much longer until Accomplice can be returned to normal?" he asked.

"It will be at least another week," Dumbledore replied.

"I will leave you directions on how to Owl the cure to me," Blunt replied. "I am taking my people and we are leaving. This matter is to be dropped and the Ministry of Magic is not approach any of them ever again."

"Understandable," Dumbledore replied, when it appeared that neither Fudge nor Umbridge were willing to say anything. Everything that Blunt had implied about the Muggleborns he knew and the Squibs he knew was sufficient enough to worry them into silence. For now, there was no way to tell who was loyal to whom. Alex was certain that the Ministry of Magic had wronged enough people in the past to have a long string of enemies willing to do Blunt's bidding.

For the first time in a long time, Alex was truly in awe of Blunt's ability to maneuver not only through the Muggle World but the Magical one as well. The man was honestly very gifted when it came to getting what he wanted and they were all incredibly lucky that what he wanted was for the country he'd been put in charge of to survive.

"Thank you, Headmaster Dumbledore," Blunt said. "For allowing K-Unit and their friends to stay in your school." So apparently Blunt knew that Dumbledore had basically prevented them being thrown into Azkaban. Dumbledore nodded and Blunt made a short motion for the group of people to follow him.

Everyone got up and left, Tom taking another lemon drop as he passed the desk on his way to the door.

00000

"I hope this doesn't make you hate our world," Hermione told Alex as they prepared to say goodbye in the Entrance Hall. Blunt and Dumbledore were exchanging pleasantries as Blunt's agents kept eyeing all the curious students as if they were going to blow them up any minute. "We aren't all like the Malfoys."

"I know," Alex told her sincerely. K-Unit was loading their bags into the empty Blackhawk and Jack was saying goodbye to a Professor she'd met and gotten to know a little. Alex had no clue where Tom was. "It's alright. There's a Malfoy in every world I'm afraid."

"Unfortunately," Harry responded. "I-uh-I really am sorry for what happened at King's Cross. I just got so angry with Malfoy. I never would have done it if I'd known what would happen."

"Thanks," Alex said. "I know a bit about being angry. But you didn't kill anyone so no worries."

"Do you think we'll ever see you again?" Ron asked. Alex shook his head.

"It's doubtful. Fudge was pretty clear about the Magical world staying away from us. It's probably for the best though."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, her eyebrows crinkling as she tried to work out what he had meant.

"My life isn't really something you need to be apart of. From what I hear, you've got enough problems of your own." He nodded at Harry who reached up to try and make his fringe lay flat enough to hide his scar. Alex hugged Hermione and thanked her again for getting the letter out on time.

There was no more time for words however because at that moment Tom had made his move. A side door flung open and dozens of students-all in Slytherin colors-ran screaming from behind it. Some had their skin colored bright orange, others had feathers sticking out of their hair, and still others were so splattered in paint they were unrecognizable.

Malfoy streaked by, his hair ruffled, bright pink feathers sticking to his clothes, and a panicked look on his face.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he kept shouting as he followed his fellows up the marble steps and to safety.

"What the hell?" Wolf shouted as he caught sight of Tom following the last of the Slytherins but at a much more sedated pace. There was a huge grin on his small face and his hands were orange. "What did you _do_?"

"Nothing," Tom squeaked and absolutely nobody believed him even after Snape dragged two orange haired twins by their ears into the hall.

"Headmaster," Snape snapped. "I require your assistance."

"Well, I guess this is as good a time as any to say farewell," Dumbledore told Blunt, who nodded. Tom was dragged to a Blackhawk by Wolf who was none too pleased by the chaos he had caused. Alex wondered when Tom had managed to put all this together.

Regardless he owed the deaged prankster thirty quid.

The last thing Alex remembered about Hogwarts was Harry and Ron laughing hysterically and Hermione desperately trying to maintain a semblance of composure and failing.

And a week later, after Tom had been restored to normal by a nasty looking Potion, Alex paid him and both were promptly grounded for making trouble. Alex didn't mind though. It had been worth it.


End file.
